And in reality, when/where can we find an actual state of equilibrium where no one has an unfair market advantage?
Here's an anecdote: I've received hundreds of thousands of euros from my parents (in my early 30's), they fully paid my education in a well-known private lycée, a nice "classe prépa", an expensive French business school. They paid everything until I get a highly paid job in a European startup, incl. some student exchange programmes abroad. I'm getting dozens of €K a year as gifts (with absolutely zero taxes). I own a big flat in one of the most expensive city in the world (where prices keep rising), and tones of shares on the stock market (4x in a few years, thank you Wall Street). My gains on the sale of these stocks are taxed far below my salary, so I'm not working too much (I'm already saving 2/3 your yearly revenues, and own ~6x the median wealth in my country). etc. You probably get the point. I'd be glad if anyone can explain how I'm not taking advantage of an extremely unfair advantage, and what Smith (or any other liberal economist) suggests to reach a state of equilibrium where I have to compete fairly with my fellow citizens.
There may have been more actual equilibrium in Smith's time. Mayer-Schonberger (Oxford) pointed out that, "...price is compromised by the very fact that it abridges the information available to the market." The conclusion, of his interesting but incomplete argument, is that price (traditionally understood) becomes increasingly untethered to reality as the digital economy overtakes the physical.
One could argue that looking far enough back, certain types of unfair advantage might only get reset by mobs with torches and pitchforks (or, more recently, yellow jackets).
Here's an anecdote: I've received hundreds of thousands of euros from my parents (in my early 30's), they fully paid my education in a well-known private lycée, a nice "classe prépa", an expensive French business school. They paid everything until I get a highly paid job in a European startup, incl. some student exchange programmes abroad. I'm getting dozens of €K a year as gifts (with absolutely zero taxes). I own a big flat in one of the most expensive city in the world (where prices keep rising), and tones of shares on the stock market (4x in a few years, thank you Wall Street). My gains on the sale of these stocks are taxed far below my salary, so I'm not working too much (I'm already saving 2/3 your yearly revenues, and own ~6x the median wealth in my country). etc. You probably get the point. I'd be glad if anyone can explain how I'm not taking advantage of an extremely unfair advantage, and what Smith (or any other liberal economist) suggests to reach a state of equilibrium where I have to compete fairly with my fellow citizens.