The next time someone decides to tell me that the reason things are the way they are is because of "The Free Market" I'm going to politely ask them if anyone paid them for this opinion.

And if the answer is "no" then I'm going to say "then why are you giving it to me for free, or is that precisely what it's worth: nothing".

@craigmaloney The market-based aanswer is, in part, that defining the ideological landscape, and driving pubic opinion, values, thinking, etc. (shifting the Overton Window) has strong positive advantage. As does any proselytizing.

There are other mechanisms at play, but if you're looking for the self-interested (or, far more likely: useful idiot) one, this is it.

Information goods are weird, market-wise.

#economics
#freemarket
#ideology
#economictheology
#greshamslaw