laissez faire

Definition

A policy of governmental non-interference in economic affairs.

Etymology

Borrowed from French laissez faire (“leave it be”, literally “let do”).

Example Sentences

• "In brief, all this Mammon-Gospel of Supply-and-demand, Competition, Laissez-faire, and Devil take the hindmost, begins to be one of the shabbiest Gospels ever preached on Earth; or altogether the shabbiest."
• "While laissez-faire economy was the product of deliberate State action, subsequent restrictions on laissez-faire started in a spontaneous way. Laissez-faire was planned; planning was not."