Introduction

In 1776, Adam Smith’s pivotal economic treatise, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, was published wherein Smith describes what he saw as “the invisible hand of the market”; a metaphorical reference to the market forces of supply, demand, and price that naturally control production and consumption within and between nations assuming no intervention by the government. He detailed with great accuracy and at great length the nature of the free market as he saw it and the processes by which we, as people, allocate resources through production and trade. The natural behaviors that we exhibit and the processes to which we all adhere in our interactions to acquire the necessities for comfort and survival are, as Smith described them, predictable and measurable. Since that time, and particularly since the start of the twentieth century, we have built on and refined our understanding of economics to the end that it is possible to manipulate these processes and behaviors to create specific benefits or detriments, to include its potential to compel nations and peoples into submission during conflict.