But many markets (the labor market, the health care market, etc) work in such a way that it's ridiculous to assume that most participants know all public and private information all or most of the time.
But many markets (the labor market, the health care market, etc) work in such a way that it's ridiculous to assume that most participants know all public and private information all or most of the time.
Also what people mean when they say markets are efficient in other contexts means something very different. The EMH specifically describes how quickly and what kinds of information get incorporated into asset prices. It doesn't make claims about how markets organize production or optimize utility without centralized direction, which is usually what people mean when they say free markets are efficient.
I think a lot of confusion has arisen from the very general-sounding name of the hypothesis which does not reflect its relatively narrow claims. Not that I buy the EMH (no pun intended), but that's a different story.