Market Economy
Fundamentals of a Market Economy
- Private property: buyers and sellers are free own and use private property
- Specialization: buyers and sellers are able to concentrate their efforts in areas where they have an advantage
- Consumer sovereignty: buyers can exercise their dominance over what is produce by freely deciding whether to buy or not buy
- Competition: sellers are free to attempt to get the business of others by offering the best deal
- Profit: sellers are free to attempt to maximize their profits
- Voluntary exchange: when a buyer and seller agree to do business together business together, each believes that the benefits outweigh the costs
- Government involvement: buyers and sellers must be free to operate with minimal government intervention
What Legal Rights Are Built into the Free Enterprise System?
- Open opportunity: everyone should have the ability to enter and compete in any marketplace.
- Open participation serves as an incentive to be efficient and productive
- Free contact: everyone should have the right to decide for themselves which legal economic agreements they want to enter into
- Voluntary exchange, a cornerstone of free enterprise, can’t function without freedom of contract
- Legal equality: everyone should have the same economic rights under the law