However, the typical libertarian response is roughly “move closer to a free market”, which does not necessarily give better results from all starting points. In the case of a market that is by its nature far from a perfectly competitive one, that’s been heavily distorted by previous government interference, has several entrenched players, &c., there’s every reason to believe that naively reducing regulation will lead toward a local minimum.
Of course not.
However, the typical libertarian response is roughly “move closer to a free market”, which does not necessarily give better results from all starting points. In the case of a market that is by its nature far from a perfectly competitive one, that’s been heavily distorted by previous government interference, has several entrenched players, &c., there’s every reason to believe that naively reducing regulation will lead toward a local minimum.