A market economy or free market economy is an economic system in which the prouction and distribution of goods and services take place through the mechanism of free markets guided by a free price system. In a market economy, businesses and consumers decide of their own volition what they will purchase and produce, and in which decisions about the allocation of those resources are without government intervention. In theory this means that the producer gets to decide what to produce, how much to produce, what to charge customers for those goods, what to pay employees, etc., and not the government. These decisions in a market economy are influenced by the pressures of competition, supply and demand. This is often contrasted with a planned economy, in which a central government decides what will be produced and in what quantities. Market economy is also contrasted with mixed economy where there are market operations though the markets system is not entirely free but under some government control that is not extensive enough to constitute a planned economy. In the real world, there is no nation that has a pure market economy.