Perhaps. But why do we actually care about market fairness?
I care that companies get shit done. I want to see electric cars, cancer cures, solar power, and vaccines. I don't care that the markets are fair. If an unfair market means I get those things faster I'm all for it.
FWIW I get cheaper strawberries than most people because I'm good at bargaining. Markets aren't supposed to be fair, they're supposed to factor in these kind of soft skills.
> But why do we actually care about market fairness?
I'm having a hard time understanding why you believe this is even a question, but I'm trying...
Let me ask you a different question: should the CEO of a company who knows about a major upcoming change (positive or negative) be allowed to trade on that information? After all, based on your arguments so far "they should be rewarded for rising the the position of CEO".
Do you not see a fundamental issue with a system that guarantees unfairness? If I'm allowed to trade on insider info, and everyone else trading knows that, can you imagine the downstream consequences? e.g. every time I trade, the entire market will now react, because the very fact that I'm trading now might indicate something about the fundamentals of the stock.
> Markets aren't supposed to be fair, they're supposed to factor in these kind of soft skills.
What makes you believe/conclude this? Fairness in markets doesn't mean we all pay the same price, nor do "soft skills" really play into modern day stock trading.
Buying cheap strawberries is a cute analogy, but is an apples/oranges comparison, and one involves a consumable product, while the other involves buying a stake in a company based on information that's supposed to be available to everyone else interested in buying a stake in the company.
You may not believe fairness is needed, but that doesn't change that those are the rules we operate under, and most participants in the stock market would fundamentally disagree with you.
Isn't the argument that fair markets are what allow all that stuff to get done? In other words they are better for the group over the long term. Unfair (via corruption or whatever have you) markets tend to stagnate and are good for the individual in the short term (eg within their own lifetime).
Also, who wants to haggle over strawberries every single time you shop? There's a definite time cost to having to "discover" the price on every single transaction.
We need integrity in markets so that our future well-being is secured. I suspect your judgment is a major reason why your ancestry never cultivated sophisticated capital markets.
“Without fundamental trust / there is no trust at all.” Tao Te Ching 17
I care that companies get shit done. I want to see electric cars, cancer cures, solar power, and vaccines. I don't care that the markets are fair. If an unfair market means I get those things faster I'm all for it.
FWIW I get cheaper strawberries than most people because I'm good at bargaining. Markets aren't supposed to be fair, they're supposed to factor in these kind of soft skills.