free market
Laissez-faire economics
A free market is an economic system where prices and production are determined by supply and demand rather than government intervention.
The term carries ideological weight—advocates use it to mean efficient and natural, critics to mean unregulated and exploitative: Free market principles drove the deregulation movement.
In practice, no market is entirely free; the phrase usually signals a preference for minimal government involvement in commerce.
Furnish or stock
- demandForceful request or requirement
- equilibriumState of balance
- goodsThings for sale
- servicesActs performed for others
consumer · producer · efficiency · elasticity · commodity · transaction · scarcity · allocation
Noninterference in commerce
- privatizationState sells public assets
- deregulationRemoving governmental business restrictions
- neoliberalismPro-market, anti-regulation ideology
- entrepreneurshipCreating and managing ventures
investment · shareholder · venture capital · equity · dividends · hedge fund · mergers · acquisitions
Taxes on imports
- importObtain from overseas
- exportForeign-bound sale
- commerceExchange of goods, services
- wholesaleBulk sales to merchants
retail · exchange · brokerage · distribution · logistics · shipping · customs · protectionism
Doctrine of personal independence
- choiceAct of selecting
- autonomyIndependent decision-making capacity
- voluntarismWill-based action philosophy
- libertarianismMinimal-government political philosophy
classical liberalism · limited government · nonintervention · self-regulation · property rights · Milton Friedman · Adam Smith · Hayek
Ongoing contest between opponents
- antitrustAgainst corporate market dominance
- monopolyOne seller, no substitutes
- oligopolyFew firms dominate market
- competitorsThose seeking same goal
price wars · barriers to entry · competitive advantage · predatory pricing · cartel · duopoly · price competition · fair competition
Rapid, unpredictable changeability
- speculationUnproven theorizing or risky investment
- externalitiesUncompensated effects on others
- boom and bustRecurring economic extremes
- bubbleAir-filled film sphere
crash · inequality · exploitation · race to bottom · moral hazard · systemic risk · financial crisis · instability
supply
Furnish or stock
- demandForceful request or requirement
- equilibriumState of balance
- goodsThings for sale
services · consumer · producer · efficiency · elasticity · commodity · transaction · scarcity · allocation · spontaneous order
laissez-faire
Noninterference in commerce
- privatizationState sells public assets
- deregulationRemoving governmental business restrictions
- neoliberalismPro-market, anti-regulation ideology
entrepreneurship · investment · shareholder · venture capital · equity · dividends · hedge fund · mergers · acquisitions · profit motive
tariffs
Taxes on imports
wholesale · retail · exchange · brokerage · distribution · logistics · shipping · customs · protectionism · trade barriers
individualism
Doctrine of personal independence
- choiceAct of selecting
- autonomyIndependent decision-making capacity
- voluntarismWill-based action philosophy
libertarianism · classical liberalism · limited government · nonintervention · self-regulation · property rights · Milton Friedman · Adam Smith · Hayek · pro-business
rivalry
Ongoing contest between opponents
- antitrustAgainst corporate market dominance
- monopolyOne seller, no substitutes
- oligopolyFew firms dominate market
competitors · price wars · barriers to entry · competitive advantage · predatory pricing · cartel · duopoly · price competition · fair competition · competitive pricing
volatility
Rapid, unpredictable changeability
- speculationUnproven theorizing or risky investment
- externalitiesUncompensated effects on others
- boom and bustRecurring economic extremes
bubble · crash · inequality · exploitation · race to bottom · moral hazard · systemic risk · financial crisis · instability · unaccountability
- economic policymonetary policy, tax policy, fiscal discipline, fiscal stimulus, fiscal restraint
- business philosophiescapitalism, lean, kaizen, agile, Six Sigma
- economic systemscapitalism, mercantilism, communism, feudalism, socialism
- European Economieseconomic growth, economic reform, economic miracle, economic integration, liberalization
- free marketslaissez-faire, capitalism, privatization, invisible hand, deregulation
- Liberalismindividual liberty, individual rights, civil liberties, classical liberalism, limited government
free marketplanned economy
Centralized resource allocation system
command economy · central planning · statism · dirigisme · state capitalism
free marketinterventionism
Policy of deliberate involvement
protectionism · price controls · government regulation · economic controls · trade restrictions
free marketsocialism
Communal economic control
collective ownership · state ownership · public ownership · nationalization · common ownership
free, market, freedom, freely, marketing, supermarket, markets, marketplace, freer