The free market economy is becoming more efficient as our information exchange methods are becoming faster. Each individual actor can find more data than he could possibly use.

On the other hand, the sheer amount of data now being produced makes it completely impossible or even desirable to make any kind of centralized decisions when it comes to market conditions. Any centralized decision making would be more inefficient.

An example I have read about but no longer remember the exact numbers will be enlightening here. Some years ago, there was a large earthquake that shut down several large copper producing mines. Nobody around the world even knew the extent of the damage for several weeks. The price of copper went up for about 3 days, and other producers announced increased production which lowered the price of copper back to normal in abut 72 hours. Now, all of this was accomplished without knowing how much damage was done. It was all accomplished with the price. There was no copper king or committee or computer program telling anyone what to do. Extreme efficiency with people acting locally with only knowledge of price.