Infrastructure and the Principle of the Hiding Hand

Introduced by Albert O. Hirschman in the 1960s to describe development programmes at the time, the principle of the Hiding Hand describes the systematic discrepancy between what proponents propose when seeking permission for projects and what processes actually lead to certain outcomes. This chapter explores the recent renaissance of the principle and elaborates on its distinctness among related concepts in (organisational) sociology, organisational psychology, and economics. By examining multiple combinations of two critical dimensions in infrastructure planning—estimation of complexity and overall awareness of planners—a typology of four hands is proposed: the Hiding Hand, the Protecting Hand, the Malevolent Hand, and the Passive Hand. Each hand is associated with advantages leading to potential benefits, as well as disadvantages leading to potentially detrimental outcomes and unintended consequences. The Hiding Hand is offered as an argument in support of infrastructure planning beyond purely rationalist approaches.

Computer Science · Political Economy and Marxism