4 ms·

Yes, it is. This is literally an economics 101 thing. Pick up any text book and before you even get to supply and demand you will go through the "assumptions" t

Yes, it is. This is literally an economics 101 thing. Pick up any text book and before you even get to supply and demand you will go through the "assumptions" that must be true in order for a free market to function. They are usually listed as: Perfect information Perfect competition Mobility of capital and labor Firms maximize profits Consumers maximize utility A lot of people (most?) who champion free market economics have no idea what they are talking about. They could not pass the first quiz in an Econ 101 class. In healthcare, at least in the decisions of consequence, you typically have no information and no choice.

dfee 9y ago
You got me. I haven’t formally studied Econ, and maybe I would be one of those chumps you would mock for failing the first Econ 101 test. Anyway, that’s all somewhat irrelevant. I asked a question wanting to know more about “free markets” as is commonly used in discussion, and not the theoretical concept which apparently does require complete information and is incompatible with the common / non-theoretical construct. My curiosity remains, so I’ll ask if you know of any approachable resource that discusses the taxonomy of market models and their levers? (In the past I have’nt found Amazon’s ranking of books to be useful as they’re written for entertainment, not exploration).
deleted 9y ago
[deleted]
CWuestefeld 9y ago
Well, you're right that it's an econ 101 thing - because it's not a grad-level econ thing. Real economists understand that the real world differs from those simplistic models, and have (or are working on) other approaches that better model the real world. It's just like in Physics 101 you're dealing with point masses on a frictionless surface. Later on you learn abut friction and inertia, and still later you get into relativity. We frequently start with that simplified view of the world, but there aren't any real professionals who believe that's the end of the story. Markets do exist, despite the fact that your assumptions don't hold true to varying degrees.

dfee 9y ago

You got me. I haven’t formally studied Econ, and maybe I would be one of those chumps you would mock for failing the first Econ 101 test. Anyway, that’s all somewhat irrelevant. I asked a question wanting to know more about “free markets” as is commonly used in discussion, and not the theoretical concept which apparently does require complete information and is incompatible with the common / non-theoretical construct. My curiosity remains, so I’ll ask if you know of any approachable resource that discusses the taxonomy of market models and their levers? (In the past I have’nt found Amazon’s ranking of books to be useful as they’re written for entertainment, not exploration).

deleted 9y ago

[deleted]

CWuestefeld 9y ago

Well, you're right that it's an econ 101 thing - because it's not a grad-level econ thing. Real economists understand that the real world differs from those simplistic models, and have (or are working on) other approaches that better model the real world. It's just like in Physics 101 you're dealing with point masses on a frictionless surface. Later on you learn abut friction and inertia, and still later you get into relativity. We frequently start with that simplified view of the world, but there aren't any real professionals who believe that's the end of the story. Markets do exist, despite the fact that your assumptions don't hold true to varying degrees.