Kevin Carson examines the matter of whether or not the word “capitalism” is useful to describe a true free market economy.

I. Introduction Defenders of freed markets have good reason to identify their position as a species of “anti-capitalism.”[1] To explain why, I distinguish three potential meanings of “capitalism” before suggesting that people committed to freed markets should oppose capitalism in my second and third senses. Then, I offer some reasons for using “capitalism” as a…