A free market is one where prices are set based on supply and demand without restrictions on competition due to monopolistic powers, market reserve regulations, etc.
There are always limits to competition, some due to scale, some due to market size, some due to availability of resources. None of those prevent a market from being free.
Even antitrust regulation doesn't necessarily prevent a market from being free.
To add, Adam Smith's original postulation of a free market was an explicitly regulated market (for example to prevent monopoly influence).
There are all sorts of ways we aren't in that world (for example a free market requires a fully informed set of buyers, which practically speaking never exists).
But a market where exorbitant costs of regulation drive up the minimum efficient scale to the point that no new entrants are possible is also not a free market.
I don't think the dictionary definition is useful here. A market can be "free" while granting inordinate decision making power over the population to a few people - the opposite of a democracy. The prices can be here or there, but the relationship between people is what matters. Who has power and who decides how to use it?
> As far as I understand, it's back to being desert everywhere today.
Not entirely. The once massive Mesopotamian Marshes (which were largely drained by Saddam to destroy the local Shia population) have been partially restored, from about 10% of the original size to about 50%. It will probably take many decades for the ecosystems to be restored, but it is nonetheless good news.
You can address that by using Gini index x median income. The result is the same: the US continues to be an outlier with significantly higher inequality than most developed countries.
Another way to look at it is median income x Gini index. Essentially, higher-income countries tend to have lower inequality, but the US is an exception, with significantly higher inequality than other developed countries.
A nitpick: wanderlust doesn't mean in English what it means in German. While in German it still means "a desire to hike", in English it is usually associated with travel, a meaning that in German is closer to Fernweh (far-sickness, as in opposition to home-sickness, which is the literal meaning of nostalgia, the Swiss mercenary malady).
What data? User's data? Algorithms? There's little value in FB's algorithms, the value is simply in its usage by users, content creators and advertisers.
Many do. The downside is that a heavy import tax makes whatever is being imported more expensive for local consumers to buy. In some sense this makes them poorer.
The goal is usually to encourage local firms to grow and compete, and sometimes that happens (e.g. Hyundai). But sometimes the local firms become complacent in their walled garden (e.g. Hindustan Motors).
You get ignored by lots of international companies that dont want to play by your silly and often unprofitable rules. Leading to a loss of choice and quality in goods and services, and a general depression of the economy over time. The softer hand moves more grain or something.
Revenge in the form of trade wars that screw everyone in the end. Exactly what the US is doing right now with all its tariffs, which are not helping US manufacturers (their stated intent) and are hurting US consumers (due to revenge tariffs).
Strong government management of the economy was the foundation for the success of Japan, South Korea, and Singapore in the mid 20th century (as an example). So absolutely people do it.
