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You misunderstand the meaning of "free" in the phrase "free market". Read The Wealth of Nations and you will see that Adam Smith was a vociferous advocate of r
by uoaei 4y ago
You misunderstand the meaning of "free" in the phrase "free market".
Read The Wealth of Nations and you will see that Adam Smith was a vociferous advocate of regulation. Because "free" was not "unregulated" in the original conception, it was rather "open to any participant, such that they have the opportunity to benefit", which as we have noted over the past 300 years of economic history requires regulation and enforcement mechanisms (funded by taxes).
- rascul 4y agoI guess there are varying definitions of "free market". I was going off of Wikipedia: > In economics, a free market is an idealized cognitive model of an economic system in which the prices of goods and services are determined by supply and demand expressed by sellers and buyers. Such markets, as modeled, operate without the intervention of government or any other external authority. Adam Smith is mentioned later on in the article though: > For classical economists such as Adam Smith, the term free market refers to a market free from all forms of economic privilege, monopolies and artificial scarcities. They say this implies that economic rents, which they describe as profits generated from a lack of perfect competition, must be reduced or eliminated as much as possible through free competition. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_market https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_market