Laissez-faire

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Laissez-faire ( LESS-ay-FAIR, from French: laissez faire [lɛse fɛːʁ] , lit. 'let do') implies that nothing restricts what happens, irrespective of the potential consequences. In the financial area, it is a type of economic system in which transactions between private individuals are free from any form of economic interventionism (such as subsidies or regulations). Applied to a system of thought, laissez-faire implies the following axioms: "the individual is the basic unit in society, i.e., the standard of measurement in social calculus; the individual has a natural right to freedom; and the physical order of nature is a harmonious and self-regulating system." The original phrase was laissez faire, laissez passer, with the second part meaning "let (things) pass". It is generally attributed to Vincent de Gournay. In its application to markets, the principle of laissez-faire holds that markets should naturally be competitive, a rule that the early advocates of laissez-faire always emphasized...

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