Slate: Consuming Gets Complicated: "Is the disappearance of standard prices a bad thing? Not necessarily. Most of these examples are the result of information technology. Classical free-market theory assumes that all players have "perfect information." Information technology is bringing reality closer to this implausible theory, and thus making the economy more efficient....On the down side, artificial hassles are a strange thing for a healthy economy to be churning out. As if we didn't have enough real ones." <via davidgagne>