This enables market participants to make the type of informed judgments that foster the most efficient allocation of capital -- efficient in the sense that our physical resources are directed at producing those goods and services most valued by consumers. This requires a free press and government data information systems that are perceived to be free of hidden political manipulation.
Government censorship in any form renders information suspect. Such information will be disregarded by market participants as virtually useless, requiring individuals to rely on rumor and other dubious sources of information. This leads to misjudgments about the changing patterns of consumer demand and hence significantly eviscerates the market’s effectiveness and its role in directing real resources to their optimum uses.