A gift economy is an economic system in which money and the free market do not exist, and goods are given freely to those who need or want them. It is the principal economic theory of anarcho-communism.
Similar but not identical to a horizontally planned economy, it involves the production of goods by self-managed workplaces in a free federation. In one possible implementation of the gift economy, workplaces may hold councils or assemblies with local communities and/or delegates to determine how much of a demand there is for certain products. Typically in a gift economy, goods would not be distributed to individuals, but available for any individual in need to take for themselves.