Been wondering if "free market economy" still works the way we expect when other nations might not share the same core principles in governance ... checks & balances ... etc
"Free market" just means that the prices are determined by the market, not by government-sponsored monopolies, artificial scarcity, regulation, tariffs, restricted information flows between buyer and seller, etc. It is in contrast to England pre-1700-ish where various groups had a monopoly ("patent") to sell goods, also government-imposed tariffs on some goods.
Free market does not mean that the players within the market have liberty other than the price to buy or sell at. So a truly free market under a dictatorship should still act the same way, it's just that dictators have a way of not liking free markets.
I was thinking about China but it can be applied to anyone. Free market without every one following exactly the same rules is not free market, or at least is not what I understand as free market.
We've never had 'exact same set of rules'. Leave dictatorships aside and just tell me what is 'free market' suppose to do when two legitinate democratic authorities have different rules?
In EU we don't grant software patents, and don't have the patent trols problem, we have different consumer righs, no mandatory arbitration, etc. In germany they have roads without speed limits, etc. A product destines for success in EU might fail in US and vice versa.
You're right, but the EU is not that different from the US. In general terms we could say we're playing by the same rules.
And there are no special rules for Europeans and other for foreigners. If you try to run a business in, lets say, Germany. You have the same rules and the same obligations as any other German. That doesn't happen in China.
The free market economy doesn't exist. It's a fairy tale told by the news industry to the uneducated masses. Whenever you hear the news say the US has always been a champion of free trade, just know they are lying.
There is no such thing as "free market economy". Every economy is a protected economy. It's just a matter of degree. Go ask huwaei, iran, venezuela, zimbabwe, cuba, etc about "free market economy".
All markets are manipulated and controlled nationally/geopolitically. The price of oil isn't determined just by the "market", it's decided by the FED, subsidies, war, etc.
The only core principle shared by all nations is to lie, cheat and steal as much as possible. And things ultimately work out. The idea of governance, checks and balance, rule of law, etc are just frivilous distractions. Not to mention propaganda like "democracy" or "western values". Surely saudi arabia is a shining symbol of democracy and western "values".
That depends on whether you believe free market implies a slightly-but-not-quite tautology definition (the market is whatever the market is the market etc.) or in a more Friedmanite-sense ("Capitalism is a prerequisite but not a guarantee for freedom")
Who would've thought Communists would've made the best capitalists? China is a "managed economy" and about as far from "free market" as North Korea[1]. Does it work the same way? I don't think so. We know that corruption and graft have become the norm in China[0], not the exception, so I would contend it works nothing like a free market economy.
There is no country that doesn't have a managed economy. Trade deals, subsidies, gov sponsoships, immigration restrictions, etc. All these are form of economy management to protect the tax sources and (try) to balance the out/in cash flow.
In an ideal world they would not be needed but in todays day and age when countries are not developed equally they are necesary to protect your tax sources and keep the cash flow in the internal economy instead of it being sent somewhere else.
> There is no country that doesn't have a managed economy.
True, but there's "more managed" and "less managed", and the difference matters. It matters to your ability to make money, and it matters to the economy's ability to actually produce what people want.
Free market economy works to the extent it is free. The benefits of the market economy are somewhat exponentially proportional to how free that is.
India is far from a free market economy. However some modest reforms in 1990s have given 100s of millions a hope that they can reliably have 3 meals a day and a roof over their head even with almost no skills.
