cronyism: the appointment of friends and associates to positions of authority, without proper regard to their qualifications.

That's the dictionary definition. Do you really think that started only in the late 1800s? I think that's been around since some people had the power to do so. That is, since the population got split in a tiny group of producers who own the means of production, and the rest who can only sell their time. And that's capitalism my friend, sometimes called slavery, feudalism or mercantilism... There are no "free and voluntary exchanges" within capitalism, because we all need the products, we all need to eat; that makes us dependent on the tiny group that owns the means of production. It's really not that hard to understand...