Re:The story of Henry Ford's $5 a day wages: not what you th...
by WalterBright on Sunday March 15, 2020 @11:56PM
(#22589764)
> People go into teaching and nursing out of altruism,
I heard many claims of that, but haven't seen any evidence. I've often heard people say they teach/nurse in order to pay the bills.
> People preserve historic collections because they love them.
True, but such collections are not remotely dominant in an economy. Often they exist only because the government pays for them, which is not free market.
> Nepotism is rife in many organisations
If that means an incompetent is running the show, that fits under "poorly run businesses" I mentioned.
> half of Russia's GDP is in corruption, and so are most countries in the world
Corruption is not free market.
> In most markets consumers don't actually understand the product they are buying, whether that's technology or consultancy, and cannot competently compare two products and tell which one is better.
They don't have to. They use advisers who do, there's a thriving industry of people doing reviews, and lastly imperfect information is called "risk" and is priced in to most everything. For example, a used car bought from a dealer will fetch a higher price than one bought through Craigslist, because the latter is riskier. There's nothing not-free-market about risk pricing.
I heard many claims of that, but haven't seen any evidence. I've often heard people say they teach/nurse in order to pay the bills.
> People preserve historic collections because they love them.
True, but such collections are not remotely dominant in an economy. Often they exist only because the government pays for them, which is not free market.
> Nepotism is rife in many organisations
If that means an incompetent is running the show, that fits under "poorly run businesses" I mentioned.
> half of Russia's GDP is in corruption, and so are most countries in the world
Corruption is not free market.
> In most markets consumers don't actually understand the product they are buying, whether that's technology or consultancy, and cannot competently compare two products and tell which one is better.
They don't have to. They use advisers who do, there's a thriving industry of people doing reviews, and lastly imperfect information is called "risk" and is priced in to most everything. For example, a used car bought from a dealer will fetch a higher price than one bought through Craigslist, because the latter is riskier. There's nothing not-free-market about risk pricing.