Market

A place where transactions among agents take place, where an offer meets the demand, and the price of things is set.

Markets are means of (re-)distribution of goods and services in capitalism. They also serve as mechanisms of valuation (setting price for things) and allocation (signalling production based on demand and providing incentives). Markets play an important role in coordination and self-organization of capitalist economies (as opposed to planned economies -socialism or communism).

Well functioning markets suppose information symmetry among agents. Market failure refers to a problem in the capitalist production and (re-)distribution system.

Commons-based peer production relies more on stigmergy for coordination of co-production and dissemination of solutions (embodied as material products or as services through shared infrastructure like Bitcoin for example), which is a departure from capitalism. For example, in DIY (do it yourself) information propagates (designs, code) and physical production is done locally, by the user. The notion of scarcity, supply and demand does not apply.

See also

• Open enterprise: bypasses traditional centralized and controlled processes, scarce monetary currency, and the labour market.
• Distribution
• Dissemination