[ZenoArrow]

Free market capitalists argue that what we have now is not a free market. IP rights wouldn't exist in a free market system, for example.

It's probably best to find another term to describe the market you see working, as 'free market' is what free market capitalists argue for. I don't know what a better term would be, but I'm sure that economists would've thought of one.

[tomp]

But what would exist in this ideal "free" market? IMO, without contract law and courts that enforce it and persecute fraud, you can't have a functional market (free or unfree). Also, without some laws that monopolize violence, the market would be much more, well, violent (you might think of that as "free", but I don't think that kind of freedom is beneficial to the society) - we can see that in numerous places on Earth right now, where there is no effective "government" and you have multiple factions fighting for power - it rarely encourages trade and entrepreneurship.

[ZenoArrow]

I'm not advocating for free market economics, I'm only passing on information about what it means. The Wikipedia page is a fairly decent introduction:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_market