Definition of market economy
: an economy in which most goods and services are produced and distributed through free markets
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Recent Examples of market economy from the Web
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Many of them are convinced that Russia needs democracy, market economy, freedom of speech, fair elections and good relations with the West.
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Her New Majority coalition, which includes the Communist Party, set out to destroy the pillars of the market economy.
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Putin has nurtured an image as the man who brought the country from crisis after the humiliating collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 and a chaotic transition to a market economy.
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And given that Putin came to power in the late 1990s—when Russia was still struggling (putting it charitably) to transition into a free-market economy—that’s quite easy for Putin to do.
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Prices play the key coordinating role in any market economy, signaling the relative scarcity of resources and telling entrepreneurs how to organize production in a way that creates the largest economic pie possible.
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In our free-market economy, the village has limited tools for dealing with vacant private property.
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And, as the Economist notes, the abolition of term limits on the Chinese presidency offers the clearest evidence to date that the West’s assumption that economic integration would encourage China to become a market economy was a huge miscalculation.
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With a black-market economy taking care of the NCAA's unpaid labor, college athletics has grown into a multi-billion dollar industry that's mostly untaxed.
These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'market economy.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
First Known Use of market economy
1929
Financial Definition of MARKET ECONOMY
market economy
What It Is
A market economy is structured to allow market forces to determine prices with little or no government involvement.
How It Works
In theory, a market economy's functions are based on fluctuations in supply and demand for specific goods and services across an entire market. This relationship results in market prices that efficiently distribute goods and services among market participants who are willing and able to pay for them. Regulations by government are theoretically unnecessary, since market forces shift supply and demand and signal price adjustments conducive for efficient exchange of goods and services. Capitalism in its purest form exists in a market economy.
Why It Matters
Most developed industrial economies are a hybrid of market economies and government oversight. Fiscal and economic policies are implemented to protect the less fortunate and sustain overall well-being, include minimum wage laws, social insurance programs and subsidized health care.
Source: Investing Answers
MARKET ECONOMY Defined for English Language Learners
market economy
Definition of market economy for English Language Learners
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: an economic system in which prices are based on competition among private businesses and not controlled by a government
Learn More about market economy
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Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about market economy
Seen and Heard
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