Who said anything about purely free markets?! Markets are indeed over regulated around the world today. More so in Europe, than in the US, explaining why EU is lagging behind economically further and further. But much less so at the beginning of the last century where a tremendous amount of wealth and building got done in a very short time.
The truth is staring us in the face: the more we regulate (no matter how good the reason is), the higher the costs and delays. Culminating with the three broken markets of today: healthcare, education and housing.
> history is full of evidence
Please feel free to provide some then. The historical evidence I know (USSR and such) shows that countries that killed their free markets were unable to even feed their own citizens.