Editing Free market (section)

=== Capitalism ===
{{Capitalism sidebar|expanded=concepts}}
Capitalism is an [[economic system]] based on the [[private ownership]] of the [[means of production]] and their operation for [[Profit (economics)|profit]].<ref>{{cite book |first1=Andrew S. |last1=Zimbalist |first2=Howard J. |last2=Sherman |first3=Stuart |last3=Brown |url=https://archive.org/details/comparingeconomi0000zimb_q8i6/page/6|title=Comparing Economic Systems: A Political-Economic Approach|year=1988|publisher=Harcourt College Pub|isbn=978-0155124035|pages=[https://archive.org/details/comparingeconomi0000zimb_q8i6/page/6 6–7]|quote=Pure capitalism is defined as a system wherein all of the means of production (physical capital) are privately owned and run by the capitalist class for a profit, while most other people are workers who work for a salary or wage (and who do not own the capital or the product).}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Rosser|first1=Mariana V.|title=Comparative Economics in a Transforming World Economy |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=y3Mr6TgalqMC&pg=PA7 |last2=Rosser|first2=J Barkley|year= 2003|publisher=MIT Press|isbn=978-0262182348|page=7|quote=In capitalist economies, land and produced means of production (the capital stock) are owned by private individuals or groups of private individuals organized as firms.}}</ref><ref name=":1">Chris Jenks. ''Core Sociological Dichotomies''.  "Capitalism, as a mode of production, is an economic system of manufacture and exchange which is geared toward the production and sale of commodities within a market for profit, where the manufacture of commodities consists of the use of the formally free labor of workers in exchange for a wage to create commodities in which the manufacturer extracts surplus value from the labor of the workers in terms of the difference between the wages paid to the worker and the value of the commodity produced by him/her to generate that profit." London; Thousand Oaks, CA; New Delhi. Sage. p. 383.</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Gilpin|first=Robert|title=The Challenge of Global Capitalism : The World Economy in the 21st Century|year=2018|publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-0691186474|oclc=1076397003}}</ref> Central characteristics of capitalism include [[capital accumulation]], [[competitive market]]s, a [[price system]], private property and the recognition of [[Property rights (economics)|property rights]], [[voluntary exchange]], and [[wage labor]].<ref>Heilbroner, Robert L. [http://www.dictionaryofeconomics.com/article?id=pde2008_C000053 "Capitalism"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171028232506/http://www.dictionaryofeconomics.com/article?id=pde2008_C000053|date=28 October 2017}}. Steven N. Durlauf and Lawrence E. Blume, eds. ''The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics''. 2nd {{abbr|ed.|edition}} (Palgrave Macmillan, 2008) {{doi|10.1057/9780230226203.0198}}.</ref><ref>Louis Hyman and Edward E. Baptist (2014). [http://books.simonandschuster.com/American-Capitalism/Louis-Hyman/9781476784311 ''American Capitalism: A Reader''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150522065957/http://books.simonandschuster.com/American-Capitalism/Louis-Hyman/9781476784311|date=22 May 2015}}. [[Simon & Schuster]]. {{ISBN|978-1476784311}}.</ref> In a [[capitalist market economy]], decision-making and investments are determined by every owner of wealth, property or production ability in [[Capital market|capital]] and [[financial market]]s whereas prices and the distribution of goods and services are mainly determined by competition in goods and services markets.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Gregory|first1=Paul|title=The Global Economy and its Economic Systems|last2=Stuart|first2=Robert|publisher=South-Western College Pub|year=2013|isbn=978-1285-05535-0|page=41|quote=Capitalism is characterized by private ownership of the factors of production. Decision making is decentralized and rests with the owners of the factors of production. Their decision making is coordinated by the market, which provides the necessary information. Material incentives are used to motivate participants.}}</ref>

[[Economist]]s, [[historian]]s, [[political economist]]s and [[sociologist]]s have adopted different perspectives in their analyses of capitalism and have recognized various forms of it in practice. These include ''[[Laissez-faire capitalism|laissez-faire]]'' or free-market capitalism, [[state capitalism]] and [[welfare capitalism]]. Different [[forms of capitalism]] feature varying degrees of free markets, [[public ownership]],<ref>{{cite book|last=Gregory and Stuart|first=Paul and Robert|title=The Global Economy and its Economic Systems|year=2013|publisher=South-Western College Pub|isbn=978-1285-05535-0|page=107|quote=Real-world capitalist systems are mixed, some having higher shares of public ownership than others. The mix changes when privatization or nationalization occurs. Privatization is when property that had been state-owned is transferred to private owners. [[Nationalization]] occurs when privately owned property becomes publicly owned.}}</ref> obstacles to free competition and state-sanctioned [[social policies]]. The degree of [[Competition (economics)|competition]] in [[Market (economics)|markets]] and the role of [[Economic interventionism|intervention]] and [[Regulatory economics|regulation]] as well as the scope of state ownership vary across different models of capitalism.<ref name="Modern Economics 1986, p. 54">''Macmillan Dictionary of Modern Economics'', 3rd Ed., 1986, p. 54.</ref><ref>{{cite magazine|last=Bronk|first=Richard|date=Summer 2000|title=Which model of capitalism?|url=http://oecdobserver.org/news/archivestory.php/aid/345/Which_model_of_capitalism_.html|url-status=live|magazine=[[OECD Observer]]|publisher=OECD|volume=1999|issue=221–22|pages=12–15|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180406200423/http://oecdobserver.org/news/archivestory.php/aid/345/Which_model_of_capitalism_.html|archive-date=6 April 2018|access-date=6 April 2018}}</ref> The extent to which different markets are free and the rules defining private property are matters of politics and policy. Most of the existing capitalist economies are [[mixed economies]] that combine elements of free markets with state intervention and in some cases [[economic planning]].<ref name="Stilwell">Stilwell, Frank. "Political Economy: the Contest of Economic Ideas". First Edition. Oxford University Press. Melbourne, Australia. 2002.</ref>

[[Market economies]] have existed under many [[forms of government]] and in many different times, places and cultures. Modern capitalist societies—marked by a universalization of [[money]]-based [[social relations]], a consistently large and system-wide [[class of workers]] who must work for wages (the [[proletariat]]) and a [[capitalist class]] which owns the means of production—developed in Western Europe in a process that led to the [[Industrial Revolution]]. Capitalist systems with varying degrees of direct government intervention have since become dominant in the [[Western world]] and continue to spread. Capitalism has been shown to be strongly correlated with [[economic growth]].<ref>{{cite journal|last=Sy|first=Wilson N.|date=18 September 2016|title=Capitalism and Economic Growth Across the World|location=Rochester, NY|doi=10.2139/ssrn.2840425 |ssrn=2840425|s2cid=157423973 |quote=For 40 largest countries in the International Monetary Fund (IMF) database, it is shown statistically that capitalism, between 2003 and 2012, is positively correlated significantly to economic growth.}}</ref>