[Andhurati]

Aren't both those places the result of policies that were purported to be better than the free market?

You are right, there are no systems that are perfect when they involve humans. However, you used two countries that are, respectively, failures of socialism and communism as an argument against the "invisible hand of the market".

[inflatableDodo]

Presumably Smith's 'invisible hand' also applies to competition between economic systems. Looking at migration patterns, while people generally try and move from poor to rich countries, in cases where the economies are roughly equivalent in personal wealth, they also tend to move towards social democracies with strong safety nets. Migration between the Nordic countries and the USA tends to flow east, for instance.

[Veen]

I prefaced the sentence mentioning the invisible hand with "in countries with strong institutions and the requisite checks and balances" in anticipation of that objection. Collective decision-making is open to abuse, but it is possible to create institutions, traditions, and laws that limit that abuse while allowing us to enjoy the benefits of a longer-term view of the public good.