Mechanisms of markets
Wednesday, January 25th, 2012Within economics, a market which runs under laissez-faire policies can be a free market. It is “free” in the sense that the us government makes no try to intervene through taxation’s, subsidies, minimum wages, price ceilings, etc. Market prices may be distorted by a seller or retailers with monopoly power, or a buyer with monopsony power. Such price distortions may have an adverse impact on market participant’s welfare and reduce the efficiency of market outcomes. Also, the relative amount of organization and negotiating power of buyers and sellers significantly affects the functioning from the market. Markets where price negotiations meet equilibrium though still usually do not arrive at wanted outcomes for both sides are said to experience market failure.
Markets are a system, and systems have structure. System works fine if the structure of a system is in good condition. Structure of a (utopistically) well-functioning areas is defined the theory is that of perfect opposition. Well-functioning markets of the real world should never be perfect, but basic structural characteristics could be approximated for real world markets, for example
many small buyers and sellers
buyers and retailers have equal access to information
products are similar
Buying and promoting in well-structured markets creates a cost that satisfies both buyers and retailers, not buying as well as selling alone as the free market advocates tells us. For example, trade unions are occasionally accused of spoiling the marketplace mechanims of a labour markets, in reality it’s the opposite: blue collar trade unions make the customer and seller more equally powerful when they negotiate the price for any working hour. When the buyer and seller are usually equally powerful, then the price for any commodity is suitable to both events.
