What is Free Market?

The free market is an economic system based on supply and demand with little or no government control. It is a summary description of all voluntary exchanges that take place in a given economic environment. Free markets are characterized by a spontaneous and decentralized order of arrangements through which individuals make economic decisions. Based on its political and legal rules, a country's free market economy may range between very large or entirely black market.

The term “free market” is sometimes used as a synonym for laissez-faire capitalism. When most people discuss the “free market,” they mean an economy with unobstructed competition and only private transactions between buyers and sellers.

Using this description, laissez-faire capitalism and voluntary socialism are each examples of a free market, even though the latter includes common ownership of the means of production. The critical feature is the absence of coercive impositions or restrictions regarding economic activity. Coercion may only take place in a free market by prior mutual agreement in a voluntary contract, such as contractual remedies enforced by tort law. No modern country operates with completely uninhibited free markets. That said, the most free markets tend to coincide with countries that value private property, capitalism, and individual rights. This makes sense since political systems that shy away from regulations or subsidies for individual behavior necessarily interfere less with voluntary economic transactions. Additionally, free markets are more likely to grow and thrive in a system where property rights are well protected and capitalists have an incentive to pursue profits. In free markets, a financial market can develop to facilitate financing needs for those who cannot or do not want to self-finance. For example, some individuals or businesses specialize in acquiring savings by consistently not consuming all of their present wealth. For example, savers can purchase bonds and trade their present savings to entrepreneurs for the promise of future savings plus remuneration, or interest. With stocks, savings are traded for an ownership claim on future earnings. There are no modern examples of purely free financial markets.

All constraints on the free market use implicit or explicit threats of force. Common examples include: prohibition of specific exchanges, taxation, regulations, mandates on specific terms within an exchange, licensing requirements, fixed exchange rates, competition from publicly provided services, price controls, and quotas on production, purchases of goods, or employee hiring practices.

Investopedia