‘A market looks free only because we so unconditionally accept its underlying restrictions that we fail to see them.’36 From passports to medicines and AK-47s, many things cannot be legally bought or sold without official licence. Trade unions, immigration policies and minimum wage laws all have an effect on a country’s going wage rate. Company reporting requirements, the culture of shareholder primacy and state-funded bailouts all influence the level of corporate profits. Forget the free market: think embedded market. And, strange though it sounds, that means there is no such thing as
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