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Is there such a thing as a "free market"?

Not really, because markets depend for their very existence on rules governing

  • property (what can be owned? Can people own other human beings? Can people own ideas, does "intellectual property" exist?),
  • monopoly (what degree of market power is permissible?),
  • contracts (what can be exchanged and under what terms?),
  • bankruptcy (what happens when purchasers can’t pay up?),
  • and how all of this is enforced.

Without such rules there are no markets, there is no economy. But these rules do not arise spontaneously, they do not fall from the sky, they are created by human beings, by societies. And therefore it is misguided to treat markets or "the economy" as if it were self-sufficient systems, operating in its own sphere, and to disturb that sphere would do harm to them, would make them less efficient.

#existence
Matias 8 Mar 3
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Level 9

What comes to mind when most people think o fthe words "free market" is actually better defined as "fair market". They are NOT the same thing.

0

Level 8

And this is a good thing because it protects other businesses and the public except when they are not being followed or the rules are cancelled like now by goofus.

0

Level 9

Absoltely correct. Without such rules, the ruthless will dominate, manipulate, use, and abuse others.

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Level 8

You make some good points. The market is only partly free. For example, if a farmer foresees a demand for a particular crop, he is free to plant that crop. He can plant whatever he wants, but there are rules and regulations that govern the market.

The market is free relative to a Marxist economy where government owns all the land and decides what is to be planted,

Most people recognize the need for regulations, but when those regulations go too far and attempt to curb the natural laws of supply and demand, the economy can be adversely affected.

1

Level 7

There is one free market. Narcotics. Is that the model we wish to replicate?

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