Only in certain ways.
Counter-examples: Americans waste almost 40% of all the food that is produced in America, and for all sorts of reasons. 108 billion pounds of food is wasted, which equates to 130 billion meals. $218B per year. 19% of all crop lands, and more water than Texas, California and Ohio combined. [1] Grown, then thrown out. Enough to feed all the world's hungry.
Free markets fail to price externalities all the time. Coal kills 25 people per TWh generated, and costs about $0.10/kWh. A human life is generally costed at $10M by actuaries for these purposes [2] so at 25 deaths per TWh, the human cost alone is $0.25/kWh. Coal power should cost $0.35/kWh, and yet, it's nowhere close. This leads to terrible resource allocation.
On the other hand, authoritarianism built China 24,000 miles of high-speed rail since the mid-2000s. That's good resource allocation. The US has 49.9mi total. Without the need to plan for a 2-4 year election cycle, the government can execute multi-decade initiatives effectively. Like HSR, and like OBOR. [3]
I'm of course not advocating for authoritarianism, however some introspection here is warranted, and the current situation isn't a 'pat ourselves on the back' moment. What we need isn't more freedom but just a little bit less, an approach where we staple the actual cost of the things we do onto them so that the market can then take over and do what it's good at.
A little respect for our rivals would go a long way IMO.
[1] https://www.nrdc.org/sites/default/files/wasted-2017-report....
[2] https://www.npr.org/2020/04/23/843310123/how-government-agen...
Put another way, free markets produce 67% more than required. When it comes to food, most populations that eat prefer a market that favors the buyer.
Edit - a visual explanation of this journey: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IfVwelta1fE