Economic liberalism is the ideological belief in organizing the economy on
individualist and
voluntarist lines, meaning that the greatest possible number of economic decisions are made by individuals and not by collective institutions or organizations. It includes a spectrum of different economic policies, such as
freedom of movement, but it is always based on strong support for a
market economy and
private property in the means of production. Although economic liberalism can also be supportive of government regulation to a certain degree, it tends to oppose government intervention in the
free market when it inhibits
free trade and open competition. However, economic liberalism may accept government intervention in order to remove private
monopoly, as this is considered to limit the decision power of some individuals. While economic liberalism favours markets unfettered by the government, it maintains that the
state has a legitimate role in providing
public goods.