There is No Such Thing as a Free Market

According to Ha Joon Chang in his book, "23 Things They Don't Tell You About Capitalism", there is no such thing as an objectively defined "free market" in his THING 1. He says,

"The free market doesn't exist. Every market has some rules and boundaries that restrict freedom of choice. A market looks free only because we so unconditionally accept its underlying restrictions that we fail to see them. How 'free' a market is cannot be objectively defined. It is a political definition. The usual claim by free-market economists that they are trying to defend the market from politically motivated interference by the government is false. Government is always involved and those free-marketeers are as politically motivated as anyone. Overcoming the myth that there is such a thing as an objectively defined 'free market' is the first step towards understanding capitalism."

Do the three laws that we are discussing this week support Chang's assertion about "free markets"? Should we be talking about government control of the economy rather than "legal influences on the economy? Can the economy exist outside the control or influence of governments and laws that define the boundaries of what is acceptable and prohibit what government finds unacceptable?

https://dimosioshoros.files.wordpress.com/2010/09/23_things.pdf

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