Talk:Market (economics)

Meaning of "free market"

 * A major topic of debate is how much a given market can be considered to be a "free market", that is free from government intervention.

That embeds a claim that is, at least, contentious.

Go back to Adam Smith and you'll find he knew perfectly well that the government isn't the only source of limitations on the freedom of markets – cartels and monopolies can be de facto after all – they were, back in his day, merely the most common source. He did recognise the need for regulation, precisely to prevent market players, or those outside the market, distorting it to violate its freedom, thereby making it fail to deliver the benefits he wrote about at such length. -- Eddy 84.212.132.95 (talk) 07:35, 20 August 2023 (UTC)