Though he's indeed wrong in saying that the "invisible hand" acts only as to hamper trade, he isn't far off. The only use of the expression "invisible hand" in The Wealth of Nations occurs amid the discussion of why investors and traders might be biased towards their home country, which is still a discussed issue [0][1] and is considered a kind of market failure.
But nowhere in the same passage does Smith's use of the expression suggest that the "invisible hand" would act merely to hamper trade, but that this simile generally describes an unintended outcome of a decentralized process. The action of the invisible hand might not be necessarily beneficial, as it isn't in this case.
But nowhere in the same passage does Smith's use of the expression suggest that the "invisible hand" would act merely to hamper trade, but that this simile generally describes an unintended outcome of a decentralized process. The action of the invisible hand might not be necessarily beneficial, as it isn't in this case.
[0] : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Home_bias_in_trade_puzzle
[1] : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equity_home_bias_puzzle