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A term created by the father of communism, Karl Marx, to describe an economic and political system in which a country’s trade and industry are controlled by private owners for profit, rather than by the state. While capitalism may be wielded by either an oligarchy or a republic, it is commonly associated with systems of liberty (non-oligarchy). An economic system characterized by private or corporate ownership of capital goods, by investments that are determined by private decision, and by prices, production, and the distribution of goods that are determined mainly by competition in a free market.
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