Editing Capitalism (section)

=== Free market ===
{{Main|Free-market capitalism}}
{{See also|Laissez-faire}}
A capitalist free-market economy is an economic system where prices for goods and services are set entirely by the forces of [[supply and demand]] and are expected, by its adherents, to reach their point of [[Economic equilibrium|equilibrium]] without intervention by government policy. It typically entails support for highly [[Competition (economics)|competitive markets]] and [[private ownership]] of the [[means of production]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Jahan |first=Sarwat |last2=Saber Mahmud |first2=Ahmed |title=What Is Capitalism? |url=https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/fandd/issues/Series/Back-to-Basics/Capitalism |website=[[International Monetary Fund]]}}</ref> ''Laissez-faire'' capitalism is a more extensive form of this free-market economy, but one in which the role of the state is limited to protecting [[Property rights (economics)|property rights]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Laissez-faire |url=https://www.britannica.com/money/laissez-faire |website=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]}}</ref> In [[Anarcho-capitalism|anarcho-capitalist]] theory, property rights are protected by private firms and market-generated law. According to anarcho-capitalists, this entails property rights without statutory law through market-generated tort, contract and property law, and self-sustaining private industry.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Anarcho-capitalism |url=https://www.britannica.com/money/anarcho-capitalism |website=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Perumal J. |first=Prashanth |date=13 December 2023 |title=Understanding the debates around anarcho-capitalism |url=https://www.thehindu.com/specials/text-and-context/understanding-the-debates-around-anarcho-capitalism/article67631934.ece |url-status=unfit |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231213083528/https://www.thehindu.com/specials/text-and-context/understanding-the-debates-around-anarcho-capitalism/article67631934.ece |archive-date=13 December 2023 |website=[[The Hindu]]}}</ref>

[[Fernand Braudel]] argued that free market exchange and capitalism are to some degree opposed; free market exchange involves [[Perfect information|transparent]] public transactions and a large number of [[Perfect competition|equal competitors]], while capitalism involves a small number of participants using their capital to control the market via private transactions, control of information, and limitation of competition.<ref name="Braudel Ranum Ranum Johns Hopkins University 1977 p. 47-63">{{cite book |last1=Braudel |first1=F. |author-link=Fernand Braudel |last2=Ranum |first2=P.M. |last3=Ranum |first3=P.P. |title=Afterthoughts on Material Civilization and Capitalism |publisher=[[Johns Hopkins University Press]] |series=Johns Hopkins symposia in comparative history |year=1977 |isbn=978-0-8018-1901-8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1eVdAAAAIAAJ |access-date=6 April 2022 |pages=47–63}}</ref>