A Free Market Requires Voluntary Actions

This paper draws attention to the importance of the understanding of voluntary actions in the free market construct. Failing to understand the role of voluntary actions in the free market construct will often result in discussions of capitalism versus socialism focusing on asset ownership and not consumer sovereignty. I argue that asset ownership is less important than true consumer sovereignty, which again is the essential argument for why capitalism is the superior mode of resource allocation and social organization. The paper analyzes how our understanding of markets and voluntary actions are essential to the construct of consumer sovereignty. Understanding the degree of voluntary actions in a given commercial setting has implications for both business strategy and policy making. This paper thus aims to contribute to explain why restricted markets become crony capitalism.