Markets do not appear from nowhere
The language of the market is often presented as if it describes nature:
- prices are signals
- incentives are neutral
- outcomes reflect merit
But markets are always built on prior arrangements:
- property law
- contract enforcement
- state violence
- infrastructure
- cultural norms
Without those, "the market" is just an abstraction.
Why neutrality is convenient
Calling markets neutral lets power disappear from view.
If an outcome looks unfair, the story becomes:
- demand decided
- efficiency required it
- the system merely reflected preference
That framing hides who designed the rules under which those preferences became legible in the first place.
The deeper problem
A market can be efficient inside a system that is morally incoherent.
It can allocate resources elegantly while:
- intensifying precarity
- rewarding extraction
- eroding solidarity
- pricing basic needs beyond reach
Efficiency is not the same as justice.
Better questions
Instead of asking only whether markets are free, ask:
- free for whom?
- structured by whom?
- optimized for what?
- disciplined by which institutions?
A serious economic analysis begins when neutrality stops being assumed.