4 ms·

Free market doesn't mean unregulated market

• IG_Semmelweiss 4y ago
  Unregulated market doesn't mean a market with no referees or judges to settle disputes.
  • deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
  • rqtwteye 4y ago
    When you have judges and referees you need rules. How else would they make decisions?
• godelski 4y ago
  Funny thing is Adam Smith talks about this extensively despite being the poster child for an unregulated "free" market.
  • cfraenkel 4y ago
    Adam Smith's free markets weren't about not having regulations. He was talking about markets free from the extractive rents going to the landed aristocracy. Rents on the farms meant workers food was more expensive so factories had to pay more to keep the workers from starving.
    • godelski 4y ago
      Smith wasn't an anarchist and didn't believe in a completely unregulated market, but rather that a free market involves careful regulation to ensure a fair playing ground. Yeah, there is also a lot about the problems of rent seeking and I agree there, but my point is that the free market he was referring to isn't the "free market" many people today associate with the term. We have similar issues to his concept of the invisible hand (which was only mentioned once in each book).