Yes, Scott’s view of markets is quite odd, for the reason you mention and others. I find it puzzling. (And he has a rather romantic view of life among village people that I also find odd.) But more about that soon.

On the intellectual property issue, I have never said that people ought to go around copying the works of others, just that the moral foundations for punishing copying are very weak and not persuasive and that there are other forms of incentives for creators. Most of the varied claims for the efficiency or the justice of intellectual property are offered, in my opinion, without much argument. That said, I make an effort not to take copyrighted software from the internet, download copyrighted songs for free, take credit for what other people have created, or buy books for which authors expect royalties they won’t get from me. So after I bought those two books from the street vendor (really good copies, too!), I read them in Asia, and then bought copies from book sellers in the US.

It struck me how he viewed the market in almost the same negative light as the state. His main grievance against both the state and the market seems to be that both entail a degree of standardization.

In light of the final note in your post, I wonder whether you changed your attitude towards intellectual property compared to this article http://tomgpalmer.com/wp-content/uploads/papers/morallyjustified.pdf