Talk:Free Market

Providing the most goods and services possible

- - - - - - - - - > at the lowest cost

The principles of a free market are defined as:

   1. Individual Rights: "We are each created with equal individual rights 

to control and to defend our life, liberty and property and to voluntary contractual exchange."

   2. Limited Government: "Governments are instituted only to secure individual rights, 

deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed."

   3. Equal Justice Under Law: "Government must treat everyone equally; 

neither rewarding failure nor punishing success."

   4. Subsidiarity: "Government authority must reside at the lowest feasible level." 

   5. Spontaneous Order: "When individual rights are respected, unregulated competition will maximize economic benefit for society 

by providing the most goods and services possible at the lowest cost."

   6. Property Rights: "Private ownership is the most efficient way to sustainably utilize resources." 

   7. The Golden Rule: "Deal with others honestly and require honesty in return." 

Lawrence Reed, who argued that monopolies have historically failed to form

even in the absence of anti-trust law.

This is because monopolies are inherently difficult to maintain:

a company that tries to maintain its monopoly by buying out new competitors, for instance,

is incentivizing newcomers to enter the market in hope of a buy-out.

Command economies, where the government controls and regulates production, distribution, prices, etc

Important allocation decisions are made by government authorities and are imposed by law.

Soviet-type central planning, which involves centralized state planning and administrative decision making.

Venezuela

Unplanned economies, where production, distribution, pricing and investment decisions

are made by autonomous firms operating in markets.

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