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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. R
by 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 agoSmith 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).