This report explores the views of representatives of academia and industry in Venezuela on the role of business, particularly private enterprise, in a market economy and in the national context.

A market economy is an economic system in which prices are set according to supply and demand —that is, according to the relationship between the quantity of goods and services for sale and the number of people who want to buy them— and there is little government intervention or central planning.

The market is a) the place where buyers and sellers of goods or services conduct transactions, sometimes through an intermediary; and it is also b) the whole group of potential buyers for a good or service.

This report was originally published in April 2016 in this magazine's predecessor internet forum.

This report was prepared by Javier Toro.