Inside economics, a market that runs under laissez-faire policies can be a free market. It is “free” inside the sense that the us government makes no attempt to intervene through taxes, subsidies, minimum wages, price ceilings, etc. Market prices might be distorted by a seller or sellers with monopoly energy, or a buyer with monopsony energy. Such price distortions can have an adverse impact on market participant’s welfare and reduce the efficiency of marketplace outcomes. Also, the relative level of organization and negotiating power of customers and sellers significantly affects the functioning from the market. Markets where price negotiations meet equilibrium though still do not arrive at wanted outcomes for each sides are said to experience market failing.
Markets are a system, and systems have structure. System works fine if the structure of a system is in good shape. Structure of a (utopistically) well-functioning markets is defined the theory is that of perfect competition. Well-functioning markets of the real world will never be perfect, but basic structural characteristics may be approximated for real world markets, for example
many small customers and sellers
buyers and sellers have equal usage of information
products are similar
Buying and selling in well-structured markets creates a cost that satisfies each buyers and sellers, not buying and also selling alone as the free market supporters tells us. For example, trade unions are occasionally accused of spoiling industry mechanims of a labour markets, in reality it’s the opposite: blue collar business unions make the client and seller a lot more equally powerful when they negotiate the price for a working hour. When the buyer and seller are equally powerful, then the price for a commodity is acceptable to both events.