The Question of Freedom in Economics and Economic Organization

In neoclassical economics, freedom inheres in market choices. The inequality of assets-eg, wealth, organizational ability, technical skills, knowledge-that may make some parties to transactions feel more coerced than free, are minimized by its emphasis on allocative efficiency in simple commodity markets. The purchase & sale of labor power, highly complex services, or durable goods appear to be the same as transactions in aspirin. By contrast, Marxian economics has labor coercively bound in a succession of productive institutions until released from economic necessity in communism. Neither neoclassical nor Marxian economics captures the ambiguity of economic freedom, which ebbs & flows with institutional change & growth. AA.