What are the benefits of a society with a free market instead of government directed economics

Centrally planned economies r not able to respond to the market like free market economies r able to. In CP economies the government decides what goods to produce, how to produce them, & who receives them. Factories & the such r ran by government employees who receive their orders from the government. This is inefficient because people may want different things & the factories can not change until directed so by the goverment. In centrally planned economies there is a lack of growth & innovation & the standard of living is low compared to persons in market economies. Market economies allow decisions to be made by households & firms interacting. The benefits of a market economy include property rights, privatization of firms, low-cost but high-quality goods, & a higher standard of living.

Economic growth. it will be uneven growth with booms and recessions, but on average, it will be a lot faster than in the planned economy.

US vs. Soviet Union is a good example.
The reason for that is that people tend to work a lot harder and pay a lot more attention to costs and quality when their own salary depends on it.