Trade creates wealth. Profits direct businesses toward activities that increase wealth. Competition increases efficiency and innovation. Taxation and regulation discourage production and destroy wealth. Political decision-making favors plunder over production.
Central planning wastes resources and retards economic progress.
Some of these items may seem simplistic or trite. Simple to state, perhaps, but rich in their application to real-world problems. I will give plenty of examples to illustrate the applications. Some of the items may seem counter-intuitive or paradoxical. But before I go on, a clarification of terms is in order.