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