laissez-faire economy
- noun
- /ˌlɛseɪ ˈfɛr ɛˈkɒnəmi/
- Specialized
:
economía de laissez-faire
- Switzerland is often cited as an example of a successful laissez-faire economy where market forces dictate most aspects of commerce.
Examples
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American legal history literature is replete with theories and data suggesting why the results reached by nineteenth-century courts were consistent with the implicit philosophy of a laissez-faire economy.
Academic text (1997) -
The laissez-faire economy that existed for a few decades in 19th-century England was made possible by the Enclosure Acts (Gray, 1999: 288).
Academic text (2018) -
To be sure, the Hong Kong elite have had unparalleled economic liberties; the colony has often been considered one of the world's purest laissez-faire economies.
Academic text (1997) -
The growth of corporations controlling massive amounts of capital had created a class of individuals with power to manipulate a supposedly laissez-faire economy, rendering America's promise illusory for their fellows.
Academic text (2013) -
However, Hong Kong (at least before its reversion to China) has had what may be the closest approximation to a laissez-faire economy in the world (Rabushka 1979; Wong 1988).
Academic text (2002) -
Its achievement is reflected in the perception of opportunities for upward mobility that existed in America's free and democratic society based on abundant physical resources, entrepreneurial spirit, laissez-faire economy, and audacious individual initiative.
Academic text (1991) -
In this worldview, beliefs in abundance and progress, devotion to growth and prosperity, faith in technology, and commitment to a laissez-faire economy together contribute to environmental degradation (e.g., Dunlap, 1980).
Academic text (1998) -
Today, classical liberals are accused of trying to "return" us to a laissez-faire economy of 100 years ago (which, as Kolko shows, did not exist), which left FDR with no choice but to centralize control in an all-powerful national government (a project that, as Kolko shows, had begun at least three decades earlier).
Blog text (16) -
It is already apparent that the PRC's firms are ultimately unable to resist taking part in setting up cartels, gradually seizing control of profitable monopolies, and generally "squeezing" the laissez-faire economy.
Academic text (1990) -
Many economists believe that a laissez-faire economy allows businesses to thrive without excessive government restrictions.
Synonyms
93
3.0
A system where people and businesses buy and sell goods and prices are set by supply and demand
30
3.8
A system where private businesses compete and the market sets prices with little government control
14
3.9
Businesses owned and run by people or companies, not the government
Antonyms
How Interventionist
1
6.4
5
5.8
- Specialized
2
4.1
- Specialized
Surface Forms
Morphology
The noun phrase is directly compositional: 'laissez-faire' (advocating minimal regulation) modifies 'economy' (the production/distribution system), so a learner who knows both constituents can infer an economy with little government intervention. Although the adjective is a French-origin term, its meaning is explicit here and the construction follows a standard adjective + noun pattern, making the overall phrase transparent to learners familiar with the parts.
Etymology
Laissez-faire economy comes from an old French phrase used by business people who asked the government to 'let things be'. The two words laissez ('let') and faire ('do') paint the image of markets left alone, so today the term means an economy with very little government control.