Free market
From RationalWiki
The free market is the idea that the economy works best when the government interferes as little as possible. This concept was first espoused and explained by economist Adam Smith, based on Enlightenment ideals posited by classic liberals in the 18th and 19th centuries, but is more embraced by conservatives and doctrinaire libertarians in the 20th and 21st.
"Free market fundamentalism" is the term sometimes given to a strain of libertarianism that proposes that government can do no right when it comes to commerce, and that market pressure will weed out any bad products or corrupt businesses (the term used is laissez-faire, translating from the French approximately as "let it happen"). Liberals have largely abandoned laissez-faire capitalism as a dead end, believing the idea to be too easily abused by the amoral and dishonest.
It's worth noting that Adam Smith's works, like other texts invoked by fundamentalists, are rarely read in their entirety by those who expound the doctrine they think it outlines. Smith did see a place for governmental regulation in a healthy marketplace. For example, without government regulation, companies such as British Airways would have had free rein to collude with their rivals and fix prices when setting their fuel surcharges,[1] and Microsoft could continue its anti-competitive practices in Europe, thereby allowing it to maintain artificially high prices for its Office products.[2]
[edit] External links
- Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith at Project Gutenberg
