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Laissez Faire

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The use of the term laissez-faire can refer to "let alone, let pass" attitude for matters outside of economics.[1] For the bookseller, see Laissez Faire Books.

Laissez-faire (pronunciation: French, [lɛsefɛʁ] (help·info); English, IPA: /ˌleɪseɪˈfɛər/) is a French phrase literally meaning "Let do." From the French diction first used by the eighteenth century physiocrats as an injunction against government interference with trade, it became used as a synonym for strict free market economics. It is generally understood to be a doctrine that maintains that private initiative and production are best allowed to be free of economic interventionism and taxation by the state beyond what is necessary to maintain individual liberty, peace, security, and property rights.[2]

Laissez-faire is supported by proponents of libertarianism, classical liberalism, neoliberalism, minarchism and Objectivism. Libertarians argue that the free market produces greater prosperity and personal freedom than other economic systems. The Austrian School of economics and the Chicago School of economics are important types of laissez-faire. Market anarchists take the idea of laissez-faire to its extreme by opposing all taxation, preferring law and order to be privately funded.

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