From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishmarket economyˌmarket eˈconomy noun [countable] BBTPEan economic system in which companies are not controlled by the government but decide what they want to produce or sell, based on what they believe they can make a profit from
Examples from the Corpus
market economy• In a market economy, there must be demand.• This pinpoints a fundamental weakness in the libertarian defence of a market economy.• Yeltsin took drastic steps to move his country toward a market economy, steps that required severe sacrifice for millions of people.• Outsiders, ever hopeful, see movement towards a market economy.• But as these countries gradually, if fitfully, merge into the global market economy, fewer and fewer such barriers exist.• The two ideal-type political economies are the market economy and the command economy.• The family currently lacks a legal infrastructure for operating in the market economy.From Longman Business Dictionarymarket economyˈmarket ˌeconomy (also free economy), free market economy [countable]ECONOMICS an economy in which companies are not controlled by the government but decide for themselves what to produce and sell, based on what they believe they can make a profit fromThe Colombian government has demonstrated its belief in a market economy by privatizing inefficient state companies. → economy 