Free market

A free market is an idealised market where all transfers of money, goods, and services are devoid of coercion and theft (some definitions of "coercion" are inclusive of "theft").

Origins

Some theories assume that a free market is a natural form of social organization, and that a free market will arise in any society where it is not obstructed. The consensus among economic historians is that the free market economy is a specific historic phenomenon, and that it emerged in late mediaeval and early-modern Europe. Some economic historians see elements of the free market in the economic systems of Classical Antiquity, and in some non-western societies.

Related Topics:
Economic historians - Classical Antiquity

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

By the 19th century the market certainly had organized political support, in the form of laissez-faire liberalism. However, it is not clear if the support preceded the emergence of the market, or followed it. Some historians see it as the result of the success of early liberal ideology, combined with the specific interests of the entrepreneur. In Marxist theory, the ideology simply expresses the underlying long-term transition from feudalism to capitalism. Note that the views on this issue - emergence or implementation - do not necessarily correspond to pro-market and anti-market positions. Libertarians would dispute that the market was enforced through government policy, since that has a connotation of repression, and Marxists agree with them, for different reasons.

Related Topics:
19th century - Ideology - Entrepreneur - Marxist - Feudalism - Capitalism - Libertarian

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~