[generj]

I'm conflating free markets with perfectly competitive markets. If that's incorrect, I apologize - still learning econ. Really, I'm saying that the closer a market is to a perfectly competitive market or at least a monopolistic competitive market, the closer to a free market it is.

In my head this makes intuitive sense as clearly oligopolies and monopolies aren't free markets. If free market refers exclusively to non-centrally planned market then my understanding is very flawed.

I thought the entire point was that with heterogeneous products, there is less competition, as the goods are subtly different - enough so that sometimes they are actually in separate markets. Companies who are seeking to minimize competition typically do all they can to differentiate their product - that's marketing 101. In a monopolistic competition, there is heterogeneity, but it's curtailed by a homogeneous demand between these options - e.g. restaurants.

As for perfect information, I should clarify I'm talking only about price information on the part of the consumer. Without listed prices, its hard to make rational decisions. A combat zone doesn't have good information available on prices, which could vary greatly between locales.

If you look at markets with low profit margins, they tend to have homogeneous products with perfect information on prices - for instance, commodity markets. As the best possible outcome for consumers is for a market to have zero profits but competition to drive costs down. And I know that perfectly competitive markets are only theoretical, but I'd argue that the concept of a free market is only theoretical as well.