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> It’s not democracy that’s better at resource allocation, it’s the free market. There is no "free market". Most (probably all) markets, particularly at nation

> It’s not democracy that’s better at resource allocation, it’s the free market. There is no "free market". Most (probably all) markets, particularly at national and international level are heavily regulated. Subsidies, levees, trade agreements, tax breaks... all of those are counter-freedom in the market, and also rely on good governance to perform well.

cloutchaser 4y ago
It's a scale obviously, and usually the more free markets are, and the less the tax take is, the more successful countries tend to be. Even with authoritarian leaders. Singapore being a good example. It's just that authoritarian leaders rarely tolerate free markets.
- bigfudge 4y ago
  Is that actually true? Germany and scandi countries seem like major outliers. I’d guess that corruption and presence of good institutions are as important as tax % but would be interested in data either way.
  - cloutchaser 4y ago
    They outsource their innovation to freer countries. Germany is basically an industrial powerhouse but they are optimizing things, not innovating. Without the US the standard of living would be much lower for these countries and the rest of the world. No smartphones for a start.
    - bigfudge 4y ago
      I think that’s hard to know. Nobody is ‘inventing’ smartphones except US, but there are substantial barriers to entry for non US manufacturers… language if nothing else. Also there is a massive network effect benefit by being just-first. My hunch is that if the US didn’t exist someone else would be doing this.
bjornsing 4y ago
Sure, but it’s a bit like saying “there is no democracy because A, B and C”. To the extent these semi-free markets allocate resources efficiently it’s because they are partly free.
Gibbon1 4y ago
One might suggest that democracies are better at managing expenditures on public goods via the political process.

cloutchaser 4y ago

It's a scale obviously, and usually the more free markets are, and the less the tax take is, the more successful countries tend to be. Even with authoritarian leaders. Singapore being a good example. It's just that authoritarian leaders rarely tolerate free markets.

bigfudge 4y ago
Is that actually true? Germany and scandi countries seem like major outliers. I’d guess that corruption and presence of good institutions are as important as tax % but would be interested in data either way.
- cloutchaser 4y ago
  They outsource their innovation to freer countries. Germany is basically an industrial powerhouse but they are optimizing things, not innovating. Without the US the standard of living would be much lower for these countries and the rest of the world. No smartphones for a start.
  - bigfudge 4y ago
    I think that’s hard to know. Nobody is ‘inventing’ smartphones except US, but there are substantial barriers to entry for non US manufacturers… language if nothing else. Also there is a massive network effect benefit by being just-first. My hunch is that if the US didn’t exist someone else would be doing this.

bjornsing 4y ago

Sure, but it’s a bit like saying “there is no democracy because A, B and C”. To the extent these semi-free markets allocate resources efficiently it’s because they are partly free.

Gibbon1 4y ago

One might suggest that democracies are better at managing expenditures on public goods via the political process.