"In economics, a market is a composition of systems, institutions, procedures, social relations or infrastructures whereby parties engage in exchange."
The study of how markets work, how they are organized, and how they are embedded in social relations.
Market structures: Understanding the different types of market structures such as monopolies, oligopolies, and perfect competition and how they affect price and output decisions.
Market failures: Examining situations where the market fails to produce efficient outcomes and how government intervention can resolve these issues.
Market power: Understanding how firms with market power can manipulate prices and affect competition.
Supply and demand: Understanding the principles of supply and demand and how they interact to determine prices and quantities.
Market equilibrium: Understanding how market forces determine the equilibrium price and quantity in a given market.
Market regulation: Examining the reasons for and methods of regulation of markets by governments and other entities.
Game theory: Understanding how decisions made by one party in a market can affect the other parties involved using strategic thinking and planning.
Consumer behavior: Examining how consumers make purchasing decisions and how firms use this information to develop marketing strategies.
Price discrimination: Understanding how firms can charge different prices to different customers and how this affects market outcomes.
Network effects: Examining how the value of a product or service increases with the number of people using it.
Product differentiation: Understanding how firms can create differentiated products to target specific consumer groups and gain market advantage.
International trade: Examining the economic effects of international trade and how it can impact the domestic market.
Market signaling: Understanding how information is conveyed in markets and how it affects market outcomes.
Behavioral economics: Examining how human behavior can affect market outcomes and decision-making.
Market segmentation: Understanding how firms divide markets into smaller segments based on consumer characteristics and preferences.
Auctions: A type of market exchange where buyers and sellers come together, and the highest bidder purchases the product or service.
Barter: A system where goods and services are exchanged instead of money. This form of exchange is more prevalent in traditional societies.
Complementary Currency: A supplementary form of exchange that is designed to operate alongside national or mainstream currencies.
Direct exchange: A form of exchange where the vendor exchanges their goods or services directly with the customer.
Gift exchange: A type of exchange where goods and services are given without the expectation of immediate payment or recognition.
Markets: A physical or digital place where buyers and sellers come together to exchange goods or services.
Mutual Credit: A system where credit is granted to customers in exchange for their goods or services.
Peer-to-Peer Exchange: A system that allows individuals to lend, trade, or share goods and services with each other without the involvement of traditional intermediaries.
Reciprocity: A system of exchange where individuals or groups gift, lend or trade goods and services in expectation of reciprocal exchanges.
Time-based currency: A complementary form of exchange where units of currency are linked to time. People trade their time, skills or services for a unit of time-based currency, which can be used to buy other products or services.
"While parties may exchange goods and services by barter, most markets rely on sellers offering their goods or services (including labour power) to buyers in exchange for money."
"It can be said that a market is the process by which the prices of goods and services are established."
"Markets facilitate trade and enable the distribution and allocation of resources in a society."
"Markets allow any tradeable item to be evaluated and priced."
"A market emerges more or less spontaneously or may be constructed deliberately by human interaction in order to enable the exchange of rights (cf. ownership) of services and goods."
"Markets generally supplant gift economies and are often held in place through rules and customs, such as a booth fee, competitive pricing, and source of goods for sale (local produce or stock registration)."
"Markets can differ by products (goods, services) or factors (labour and capital) sold, product differentiation, place in which exchanges are carried, buyers targeted, duration, selling process, government regulation, taxes, subsidies, minimum wages, price ceilings, legality of exchange, liquidity, intensity of speculation, size, concentration, exchange asymmetry, relative prices, volatility, and geographic extension."
"The geographic boundaries of a market may vary considerably, for example, the food market in a single building, the real estate market in a local city, the consumer market in an entire country, or the economy of an international trade bloc where the same rules apply throughout."
"Markets can also be worldwide, see for example the global diamond trade."
"National economies can also be classified as developed markets or developing markets."
"In mainstream economics, the concept of a market is any structure that allows buyers and sellers to exchange any type of goods, services, and information."
"The exchange of goods or services, with or without money, is a transaction."
"Market participants consist of all the buyers and sellers of a good who influence its price."
"The price of goods and services, which is a major topic of study of economics and has given rise to several theories and models concerning the basic market forces of supply and demand."
"Microeconomics traditionally focuses on the study of market structure and the efficiency of market equilibrium."
"When the market equilibrium is not efficient, economists say that a market failure has occurred."
"However, it is not always clear how the allocation of resources can be improved since there is always the possibility of government failure."
"A major topic of debate is how much a given market can be considered to be a 'free market', that is free from government intervention."
"While parties may exchange goods and services by barter, most markets rely on sellers offering their goods or services (including labour power) to buyers in exchange for money."