

A free-market is a market, where individuals (or groups of individuals) compete against each other to trade goods and services with other individuals (groups), under a legal system based on the protection of individual rights (capitalism), free from the coercive effects of the initiation of physical force (and its corollary, fraud).

Observe that the competition among buyers and the competition among sellers leads to cooperation between buyers and sellers, as the buyer and seller exchange values for mutual gain and mutual benefit (else no trade would take place).

By economically empowering the individual, the free-market leaves one free in the personal sphere to choose (and be responsible for): one’s lifestyle, personal relationships and associations, and one’s own artistic, moral, esthetic, (cultural) choices.

It is important to note that, in reality, the division between economic and non-economic spheres as opposites is illusory. Personal decisions are made possible through private property rights. As examples: an artist expresses their vision with paint, an author with a physical book or letter, a fashionista through their dress, etc. The two are merely the two different sides of the same coin. As Ayn Rand has noted, a free market is a corollary of a free mind.


[1] Ayn Rand “For the New Intellectual” 25