Usually, when we talk about ‘markets’, we are referring to ‘free markets’.
If someone is referencing economic exchange, then we can use the term ‘free-market economics’.
Think about an open-air market where merchants are selling their goods. You walk by a merchant whose product you want, and if you agree on a price, you buy it. If not, you don’t. No one can make you buy anything. And no one can stop you from being a merchant.
(Although the government may require health and safety regulations).
This is a good example of free-market economics.
In the United States and most other developed countries, free-market economics is the norm. You can buy cars from whomever you wish if you agree upon a price. You can buy coffee from McDonald’s or Starbucks.
Here is something I consider essential: Free economic markets are the only moral basis for an economy. Why? Because if you can’t choose with whom to do business, or if you can’t open up your own business, then someone else (e.g. the government) is deciding for you.
What right does anyone have, even the government, to tell you what goods and services you can have? Or what business you may start?
The United States’ Declaration of Independence has what might be the most profound words written in the English language:
“We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”
Because it is our God-given right to be free, no one has the legal right to infringe on our freedom.
(If a person infringes on another’s life or liberty, it is appropriate for the government to prosecute that person).
It’s interesting to see that a free-market economic system is not an economic system at all. It just allows people to freely trade with one another.
Some people mistakenly call this Capitalism, but that is a misnomer. It is a word used my Karl Marx pejoratively, and we know how well Communism has turned out wherever it has been tried.
If we use the term ‘markets’ more broadly, it can refer to the freedom we have in all of the aspects of life. For example, we have a free market in friendship: You can be friends with anyone who wants to be friends with you.
We even have a free market in our food choices: eat whatever you wish.
The only sustainable society is one that allows free markets.
This is why there are so few Communist countries left. Even China, which is a Communist country, has started to prosper because they are allowing more and more free economic markets.
Freedom is essential to any good society.
But in order to have an enlightened civilization, most people must use their freedom to improve themselves, and make the world a better place.
Tim Farage is a Professor and Graduate Advisor in the Computer Science Department at The University of Texas at Dallas. He writes about mathematics, computer science, physics, the reconciliation between science and spirituality, Intelligent Design, and the application of Natural Law to our various systems such as education, government and economics.