Key Differences

In capitalist economies, people have strong incentives to work hard, increase efficiency, and produce superior products. By rewarding ingenuity and innovation, the market maximizes economic growth and individual prosperity while providing a variety of goods for consumers. By encouraging the production of desirable goods and discouraging the production of unwanted or unnecessary ones, the marketplace self-regulates, leaving less room for government interference and mismanagement.

But under capitalism, because market mechanisms are mechanical, rather than normative, and agnostic in regard to social effects, there are no guarantees that each person's basic needs will be met. Markets also create cycles of boom and bust and, in an imperfect world, allow for "crony capitalism," monopolies and other means of cheating or manipulating the system.