Does OPEC represent a functional part of the "Free Market"?

Question

Conservatives praise the benefits of a free market and how it is a basic reqiurement to a well functioning economy. Do organizations such as OPEC which unilaterally establish the price of oil represent an element of a free market?

Answer 1

OPEC does not unilaterally establish the price of oil. They do set standards on production quotas and loosely agree on what it will sell for. The dynamics of the free enterprise economy take control after that. The reason that crude was trading at 140/bbl had nothing to do with OPEC. It had everything to do with what buyers thought market conditions would be and what they were willing to pay