Libertarian capitalism is a laissez-faire political philosophy advocating only minimal state intervention in the lives of citizens coupled with an economic system in which trade and industry are controlled by private owners for profit, rather than by the state.
The philosophy advocates for negative rights, natural law, and a major reversal of the modern welfare state. It also strongly supports private property rights and defends market distribution of natural resources and private property.
Its adherents believe that personal preferences are not the state’s affair, and that therefore activities such as drug–use and prostitution, that arguably harm no one but the participants, should not be illegal. Libertarian capitalism shares elements with anarcho–capitalism, although it is also associated with conservatism, chiefly in the United States of America.