How would our nation be different if the free market were responsible for providing for these needs?

In economics, a free market is a system in which the prices for goods and services are self-regulated by the open market and by consumers. In a free market, the laws and forces of supply and demand are free from any intervention by a government or other authority, and from all forms of economic privilege, monopolies and artificial scarcities.[1] Proponents of the concept of free market contrast it with a regulated market in which a government intervenes in supply and demand through various methods such as tariffs used to restrict trade and to protect the local economy. In an idealized free-market economy, prices for goods and services are set freely by the forces of supply and demand and are allowed to reach their point of equilibrium without intervention by government policy.

Scholars contrast the concept of a free market with the concept of a coordinated market in fields of study such as political economy, new institutional economics, economic sociology and political science. All of these fields emphasize the importance in currently existing market systems of rule-making institutions external to the simple forces of supply and demand which create space for those forces to operate to control productive output and distribution. Although free markets are commonly associated with capitalism within a market economy in contemporary usage and popular culture, free markets have also been advocated by anarchists, socialists and some proponents of cooperatives and advocates of profit sharing.[2]

Criticism of the theoretical concept may regard systems with significant market power, inequality of bargaining power, or information asymmetry as less than free, with regulation being necessary to control those imbalances in order to allow markets to function more efficiently as well as produce more desirable social outcomes.

Explanation:

the correct answer is individualism and exchange. at this stage, children begin to question the rules, because they can see that there is more than one side to them. different individuals have different viewpoints. they won't be able to reach this stage because of ignorance, a lack of ethics or personal biases. that is because people with that characteristiscs are not able to distinguish what is good or what is bad and they can't pursue their individual interests.

the factors that the economies of the muslim empires prosper were:

1- land trade routes-located between three continents  

2- sea trade routes

trade contributed to the spread of muslim empires, and with that islamic culture led to a growing feeling of internationalism resulted in the transfer of technology, science, and other cultural forms.