[preg_match]

I think the typical answer is “free market” but that answer doesn’t sway because:

1. Nobody bothers to explain why something could function as a free market and

2. Nobody bothers to resolve the plethora of domains that de-facto cannot operate as free markets.

So, in that sense, they don’t have answers. “Look over there!” is not an answer.

Free markets are actually not a given. We have to build them and build in systems so that they can operate as free markets. How that intersects with healthcare, public utilities, etc is complicated. IME libertarians are reductionist and simple, which is why many people have just taken the route of ignoring their arguments.

[slopinthebag]

I find this comment a bit odd. There is a ton of literature on the topic, as well as lively debate online. I would recommend both The Machinery of Freedom by David Friedman and Michael Huemer’s The Problem of Political Authority (specifically pt 2) as great readings on the topic.

If one judges any idea by the average discourse on internet forums, especially throwaway comments, and trolling, no idea would ever stand up to scrutiny.

[preg_match]

I largely agree, but the bigger picture is that free market hand-wavy economics is the status quo. I’m especially critical because, in the west, it’s just accepted as fact.

Yes there is reasoning behind specific implementations. But most people don’t know that reasoning. They apply hand-wavy reasoning to fit the status-quo. That, to me, is a problem: one which doesn’t exist in other economic theories by their nature. For alternative theories, it requires active effort and reading, because it’s alternative.

What that doesn’t mean is that alternative theories are just magically correct. But what it does mean is that the average person arguing those positions are simply better informed. I’ve mostly just learned to ignore people, both online and in person, when they use the term “free market”. Maybe that’s self-destructive, it probably is. But ultimately I get tired of arguing with people who don’t put in even the first-tier of reasoning into their positions. Never mind second or third order effects.