Is "in an efficient market" the economic equivalent of the programmers' "with a sufficiently smart compiler"? It seems to be used in the same manner in arguments.
You need the concept of perfect market (or other models) to reason about things. "In a perfect market, x happens. y is not in line with the perfect market, so eliminating y (c)/(sh)ould bring us closer to x".
Replace x with "fair salaries" and "y" with "Tech companies making non-poaching agreements"
