Loose talk about “free markets,” “free market forces,” or, most egregiously, “The Free Market” creates the erroneous impression that markets have a native state. From there it follows that governments should not interfere with their (supposedly) natural functioning.82 But markets have always operated under rules—sometimes tacit and informal, other times explicit and formalized. This is what the rule of law is: we set boundaries for human activities based on our assessment of how they affect both participants and bystanders.
