----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Definition: laissez-faire
noun (ALSO laisser-faire)
1 unwillingness to get involved in or influence other people's activities:
The problems began long before he became headteacher, but they worsened with his laissez-faire approach/attitude.
2 If a government is laissez-faire, it does not have many laws and rules which control the buying and selling of goods and services.
(from Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Laissez-faire (IPA: [lɛse fɛr]), or laisser-faire, is a French phrase meaning "let do". From the French diction first used by the 18th century physiocrats as an injunction against government interference with trade, it became used as a synonym for strict free market economics during the early and mid-19th century. It is generally understood to be a doctrine that maintains that private initiative and production are best allowed to roam free, opposing economic interventionism and taxation by the state beyond that which is perceived to be necessary to maintain peace, security, and property rights.[1] In this view, it is not the job of the state to intervene in the economy in an attempt to reduce inequality or poverty other than to refrain from restricting free markets and taxing heavily. Free-market anarchists take the idea to its full length by opposing all taxation. Laissez-faire also embodies free trade, namely that a state should not use protectionist measures, such as tariffs, in order to curtail trade through national frontiers.
In the early stages of European and American economic theory, laissez-faire economic policy was contrasted with mercantilist economic policy, which had been the dominant system of the United Kingdom, Spain, France and other European countries, during their rise to power.
The term laissez-faire is often used interchangeably with the term "free market." Some use the term laissez-faire to refer to "let do, let pass" attitude for matters outside of economics.[2]
Laissez-faire is associated with classical liberalism, libertarianism, and Objectivism.[citation needed] It was originally introduced in the English-language world in 1774, by George Whatley, in the book 'Principles of Trade', which was co-authored with Benjamin Franklin. Classical economists, such as Thomas Malthus, Adam Smith and David Ricardo did not use the term—Bentham did, but only with the advent of the Anti-Corn Law League did the term receive much of its (English) meaning.[3]
(from wikipedia)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
*credit to Holm for digging this one from the net.
