Property and Trade

Half of economic confusion comes from blurring two distinct things: a trade that one party regrets, and a trade that one party was forced into. The first is the price of free choice; the second is not trade at all. The framework's rule is sharp: voluntary exchange at any agreed price is legitimate, even if the price looks strange to outsiders; forced transfer at any price — including the 'fair' price — is coercion in trade's clothing. These scenarios draw that line and the related lines around fraud, property, and the difference between imitation and deception.