In a free economy, in which wages, costs and prices are left to the free play of the competitive market, the prospect of profits decides what articles will be made, and in what quantities-and what articles will not be made at all.
If there is no profit in making an article, it is a sign that the labor and capital devoted to its production are misdirected: the value of the resources that must be used up in making the article is greater than the value of the article itself.
Profit has nothing to do with exploitation; it is about the most efficient use of individuals' means.
Profit can be gained only in a market economy in which prices of goods and factors of production can be established.
Profit emerges once an entrepreneur discovers that the prices of some factors are undervalued relative to the potential value of the products that these factors, once employed, could produce.
According to Murray Rothbard, every entrepreneur invests in a process because he expects to make a profit and believes that the market has underpriced and undercapitalized the factors in relation to their future rents.
Profits are not the result of exploitation but emerge when entrepreneurs accommodate consumers' wishes in the best possible ways.
https://mises.org/mises-wire/free-market-profit-comes-voluntary-exchange-not-exploitation
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