LAISSEZ FAIRE: A french term that translates into "leave us alone." It has become the rallying cry for many business leaders of the second estate who oppose government intervention, regulation, or even taxation. It's based on the belief that markets alone can achieve an efficient allocation of our resources. This laissez faire philosophy of should be contrasted directly with the philosophy of paternalism, which essentially says "Government needs to care for you because you can't care for yourself."

     See also | market | free enterprise | market-oriented economy | classical economics | Smith, Adam | efficiency | invisible hand | first estate | second estate | private sector | public sector | government | market failures | externalities | business cycles | unemployment | depression | market control |

LAISSEZ FAIRE, AmosWEB GLOSS*arama, http://www.AmosWEB.com, AmosWEB LLC, 2000-2020. [Accessed: January 19, 2020].

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A demand curve with two distinct segments which have different elasticities that join to form a corner or kink. The primary use of the kinked-demand curve is to explain price rigidity in oligopoly. The two segments are: (1) a relatively more elastic segment for price increases and (2) a relatively less elastic segment for price decreases. The relative elasticities of these two segments is based on the interdependent decision-making of oligopolistic firms.

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