a socio-economic system based on the abstraction of resources into the form of privately-owned capital, with economic decisions made largely through the operation of an unregulated market
a socio-economic system based on private property rights, including the private ownership of resources or capital, with economic decisions made largely through the operation of an unregulated market
Capitalism is an economic and political system in which property, business, and industry are owned by private individuals and not by the state. the return of capitalism to Hungary. an economic and political system in which businesses belong mostly to private owners, not to the government communism, socialism socialism. or free-market economy or free-enterprise system Economic system in which most of the means of production are privately owned, and production is guided and income distributed largely through the operation of markets. Capitalism has been dominant in the Western world since the end of mercantilism. It was fostered by the Reformation, which sanctioned hard work and frugality, and by the rise of industry during the Industrial Revolution, especially the English textile industry (16th-18th centuries). Unlike earlier systems, capitalism used the excess of production over consumption to enlarge productive capacity rather than investing it in economically unproductive enterprises such as palaces or cathedrals. The strong national states of the mercantilist era provided the social conditions, such as uniform monetary systems and legal codes, necessary for the rise of capitalism. The ideology of classical capitalism was expressed in Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations (1776), and Smith's free-market theories were widely adopted in the 19th century. In the 20th century the Great Depression effectively ended laissez-faire economics in most countries, but the demise of the state-run command economies of eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union (see communism) and the adoption of some free-market principles in China left capitalism unrivaled (if not untroubled) by the beginning of the 21st century
A socio-economic system characterized by private initiative and the private ownership of factors of production In such a system individuals have the right to own and use wealth to earn income and to sell and purchase labor for wages Furthermore, capitalism is predicated on a relative absence of governmental control of the economy The function of regulating the economy is achieved largely through the operation of market forces, whereby the price mechanism acts as a signalling system which determines the allocation of resources and their uses
An economic system characterized by private ownership of businesses and marketplace competition
An economic concept of civilization that is based on the private ownership (and control) of the means of production Such an institutional situation permits and inevitably encourages the division of labor, economic calculation, capital accumulation, technological improvement and the voluntary social cooperation of a market economy in which mass production is designed for the consumption of the sovereign masses Capitalism is the antithesis of statism, socialism and communism which are based on government ownership (or control) of the means of production AC 1-33, 48-112; B 10, 18, 20-39, 67, 93, 105, 118-19; OG 49-50, 284
The economic system based on the inviolability of individual private property, profit, wage labor, and the primacy of market exchange
Economic system in which goods and services are produced, exchanged and owned by individuals with minimal governmental regulation
an economic system characterized by private or corporate ownership of capital goods by investments that are determined by private decision rather than by state-control, and by prices, production, and the distribution of goods that are determined mainly by competition in a free market
An economic system where people own things Some people have money; some don't The idea is that what is needed more at the time is worth more
a socio-economic system based on private property rights, including the private ownership of resources or capital, with economic decisions made largely through the operation of a free market rather than by state control
An economic system in which most of the economy's resources are privately owned and managed
An economic system of private ownership of capital In other economic systems, the government or other groups own some or all capital <top>
economic system in which private individuals own and control the production and distribution of goods and wealth in a country
Economic system in which property is privately owned and goods are privately produced It is sometimes referred to as the private enterprise system
capitalism is an economic system in which most of the production process is controlled by private firms operating in markets with minimal government control The investors in these firms (called "capitalists") own the firms
economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production, distribution and exchange
An economic system in which investments in and ownership of the means of production, distribution, and exchange of wealth is made and maintained chiefly by private individuals or corporations, esp as contrasted to cooperatively or state-owned means of wealth [W]