• frezik@midwest.social
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    8 days ago

    Trade secrets don’t need to be enforced much by law. You can create an ad hoc trade secret regime by simply keeping your secret between a few key employees. As it happens, there are some laws that go beyond that to help companies keep the secret, but that only extends something that could happen naturally.

    • barsoap@lemm.ee
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      8 days ago

      To get closer to the free market there would have to be a duty to disclose any- and everything that’s now a trade secret, no matter how easily kept. To not just get closer but actually get there we all would need to be telepathic. As said, perfect information is a bitch of a concept.

      • lud@lemm.ee
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        8 days ago

        Being free to innovate and keep your own ideas to yourself sounds like it should be part of the free market though.

        Forcing people to disclose their (mental) secrets seems bizarre.

        • barsoap@lemm.ee
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          8 days ago

          I’m not arguing for any policies, just explaining what would be necessary to make the theoretical model of the free market a reality in actual reality: It assumes perfect information and perfectly rational actors, it’s a tall order.

            • barsoap@lemm.ee
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              8 days ago

              Adam Smith’s. He pioneered rational choice models in general. Came up with the whole shebang that 20yold econ 101 students love to ignore in favour of “free market is if I get a fat payout”.

              • lud@lemm.ee
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                8 days ago

                And why should I listen to someone that defines a word differently than everyone else?

                • barsoap@lemm.ee
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                  8 days ago

                  Adam Smith came up with it. It’s also how actual economists use it. Don’t confuse that with how business majors, politicians, and generally peddlers of institutionalised market failure use it.

                  • lud@lemm.ee
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                    8 days ago

                    Can you point to a few examples of economists using it? Obviously I won’t count Lemmy users.