[[Image:Tokyo Stock Exchange.jpg|thumb|Tokyo Stock Exchange]]
'''Capitalism''' is the [[free market]] economic system based on the [[work ethic]], private ownership , [[innovation]] and [[entrepreneurship]]. The investment of capital, and production, distribution, income, and prices are determined not by government (as in [[socialism]]) but through the operation of a competitive market where decisions are voluntary and private rather than regulated and mandated by government (see, e.g., the [[law of supply and demand]]).
==Overview==
However, capitalist societies also have seen progressively larger gaps between the upper and middle classes develop, such as the United States where the top twenty percent owned eighty-seven percent of the financial wealth and eighty percent of the total wealth, despite having the largest GDP in the world.
==Defeating Poverty==
Thanks to Capitalism, billions of people have been able to pull themselves out of poverty. Capitalism has lead to the greatest reduction in human misery. <ref>https://www.prageru.com/video/if-you-hate-poverty-you-should-love-capitalism/</ref> As capitalism provides more opportunities to people, as research has shown that when people earn their way out of poverty it is much more empowering and enduring than being supported by the government. <ref>https://www.prageru.com/video/there-is-only-one-way-out-of-poverty/</ref>
== Quotes ==
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{{Conservatism}}
[[Category:Capitalism|!]]
[[Category:Economics]]