[developer93]

The trouble with libertarianism is that it assumes everyone has perfect knowledge. Right now I don't need to do a ton of research about what drugs I'm taking, or the food I'm eating, come to that, because there are agencies making sure that things I buy which are labeled as such will nearly never kill me. I don't want to spend my evenings reading about esoteric stuff that I don't have to care about now, I want to watch streaming or play computer games. Even if I did, Covid has already shown us how bad most people are at recognising good research from propaganda. I just don't feel like it would end well.

[nickpp]

> it assumes everyone has perfect knowledge

Nobody says that. Free markets are actually the best mechanism to deal with situations in which participants have partial/imperfect knowledge.

> I don't need to do a ton of research about what drugs I'm taking

I do, and I recommend all do. Just the other week my ear doctor gave me a prescription for an antibiotic that had as a side effect a significant chance of ligament fracture. I went back and he changed it to a milder, less aggressive medicine.

[developer93]

You don't generally have to check if your food is made with lead or carcinogens though right? And if inspections aren't compulsory some people are going to get lead poisoning before word gets around, or get cancer decades later and never know. Better to have someone qualified to check it before it gets to the shelves. Granted I'm using lead as a hyperbolic example, but I'm sure you get the point I'm trying to make.

Why are free markets better at dealing with partial knowledge?