Competition economic competition is another essential feature of a free enterprise economy. competition, as economists see it, is essentially price competition. the model of the market economy envisages a situation where, in the market for each commodity, there are large number of buyers and sellers. in theory at least, competition is the regulatory mechanism of capitalism. on the one hand, it protects the customers - they have the right of choice and they benefit from the fact that competition keeps prices close to costs; on the other hand, it makes producers and suppliers of scarce resources utilize them economically, using most sophisticated technologies.