In a broad sense, the market refers to a group of manufacturers and individuals who contact with other manufacturers and individuals in order to buy and sell a certain commodity. The size of the market is the size of the market and the number of buyers.
According to Jerome Macarthy's definition of basic marketing, the market refers to a group of potential customers with the same needs; They are willing to exchange some valuable things for goods or services provided by the seller. This kind of commodity or service is the way to meet the demand.
Market is the condition for the smooth exchange of commodities, and it is the sum of all commodity exchange activities in the field of commodity circulation. The market system is a complete system composed of commodity service market, financial market, labor market, technology market, information market, real estate market, cultural market and tourism market. At the same time, each specialized market in the market system has its special functions, which are interdependent and mutually restrictive, and work together on the social economy.
With the social network virtualization, the market is not necessarily a real place and place. Nowadays, many transactions are realized through computer networks. Taobao, the largest e-commerce website in China, is a virtual market for communication. Taobao, the largest online retail business circle in Asia, is committed to building the world's preferred online retail business circle, which was founded by Alibaba Group on May 2003 10. Taobao's current business spans C2C (consumer) and B2C (business-to-person). By the end of 2008, there were more than 98 million registered users, accounting for the vast majority of online shoppers in China, covering the vast majority of online shoppers in China. In 2008, the transaction volume was 99.96 billion yuan, accounting for 80% of the online shopping market.
The market originated from the ancient name of the place where people trade at a fixed time or place. When the city develops and prospers, farmers, craftsmen and technicians living in the neighboring areas of the city will begin to trade with each other and make contributions to the city's economy. Obviously, the best way to trade is to have a centralized place in the city, such as the market, where people can provide goods and trading services to facilitate people to find goods and contact business. When a city's market becomes huge and more open, its economic vitality will also increase relatively.
Market is a way of economic communication with commodity exchange as its basic content. Under the condition of commodity economy, the premise of exchange is social division of labor and commodity production. Due to the social division of labor, different producers engage in the production of different products, but exchange their own products without meeting the needs of themselves and others, thus transforming general labor products into commodities and product production into commodity production. It is under this condition that the market for exchanging goods to meet the needs of different producers came into being. Therefore, the market is the product of social division of labor and commodity exchange under the condition of commodity economy. Market and commodity economy are inextricably linked.
With the development of social division of labor and market economy, the concept of market is constantly developing and deepening, and it embodies multiple meanings at different levels in the deepening project.
A market is a place where goods are exchanged.
(2) The market is the sum of exchange relations and even all economic relations among various market subjects.
(3) The market is characterized by consumers' demand for a commodity or a commodity.
Main category: 1. According to different market entities.
(a), according to the buyer's purchase purpose and identity.
Consumer market
Producer market-industrial user market or industrial market
Dealer market-middleman market
* * * Market
(B), according to the role of enterprises
Buy the market-enterprises are buyers in the market, they buy the factors of production.
Sales market-enterprises are sellers in the market, selling their own products.
(three), according to the status of the product or service provider (that is, competition in the market).
perfect competition market
perfect monopoly market
Monopoly competitive market
Oligopoly market
Second, according to the different nature of consumers-according to the different trading objects.
(a), according to the final use of the transaction object classification.
Market of means of production
Life data market
(2), according to whether the transaction object has a material entity to classify.
Tangible product market
Intangible product market
(3), according to the specific content of different trading objects.
Commodity market, technology market, labor market, financial market and information market.
(4) According to humanistic standards:
Women's market, children's market, elderly market
(5) According to the geographical standard (spatial standard): according to the geographical position of the market or the circulation area of commodities.
Domestic market: northern market, southern market, coastal market, ...
International market: national market and regional market.
(6) Classification according to different time-to-market standards.
Cash market
forward market
The main characteristics of the market are the inevitable product of social division of labor and the development of commodity economy. At the same time, in the process of its development and growth, the market has also promoted the further development of social division of labor and commodity economy. Through information feedback, the market directly affects what people produce, how much they produce, as well as the time to market and product sales. In the development of commodity economy, producers, suppliers and sellers are linked, and exchange conditions such as exchange places and exchange time are provided for producers, suppliers and sellers to realize the respective economic interests of commodity producers, operators and consumers.
basic feature
unify
Significance: Not only make consumers have more choices in the price, variety and service of goods, but also make enterprises have better choices when purchasing production factors and selling products.
open
Significance: An open market can enable enterprises to compete and cooperate on a larger scale and at a higher level, and promote economic development.
compete
Competition refers to all kinds of self-protection and expansion behaviors taken by economic subjects in order to safeguard and expand their own interests and strive to create advantages in product quality, price, service and variety.
Significance: Full market competition will make economic activities full of vigor and vitality.
tidy/neat
It is necessary to improve the market supervision system that combines administrative law enforcement, industry self-discipline, public opinion supervision and public participation.
Significance: The orderly operation of the market ensures equal competition and fair trade, and protects the legitimate rights and interests of producers, operators and consumers.
Main factors The constituent elements of the market can be described by an equation:
Market = population+purchasing power+purchasing desire
1. Population
This is the most basic element of the market. The number of consumers determines the size and capacity of the market, while the composition and change of population affect the composition and change of market demand. Therefore, population is the most basic of the three elements of the market.
2. Purchasing power
Purchasing power refers to the ability of consumers to pay money to buy goods or services, which is the material basis of the real market. In a certain period of time, the disposable income level of consumers determines the level of purchasing power. Purchasing power is the most important of the three elements of the market.
3. Desire to buy
Purchasing desire refers to consumers' motives, desires and requirements for purchasing goods or services, which is triggered by consumers' psychological and physical needs. The desire to buy is a necessary condition for consumers to transform their potential purchasing power into real purchasing power.
These three elements of the market are mutually restricted and indispensable, which together constitute the micro-market of enterprises, and marketing studies the consumption demand of this micro-market.
Commodity market Commodity market refers to a trading place where there are fixed places and facilities, many operators enter the market to operate, pay taxes respectively, and market managers are responsible for property management, and centralized and open transactions of tangible goods are implemented. This concept has three meanings: first, the commodity market is a commodity trading place composed of various elements such as trading subject, trading object and trading carrier; Second, the commodity market is a place to provide services and a trading place to provide producers and consumers with a certain quality of service; Third, the commodity market is a place to provide sensory experience. Therefore, the commodity market is the product of the development of commodity economy to a certain stage.
Western economy Western economic theory has experienced four deepening stages in its understanding of the market:
1) the "laissez-faire" order of classical economic theory;
2) The "perfect" price mechanism of neoclassicism;
3) The "intervention demand" in aggregate economics;
4) The "clear property right is the premise" of the new system.
The "laissez-faire" order of classical economic theory
Adam Smith promoted the performance market to a "laissez-faire" order with the logical starting point that "personal activities satisfying selfish desires will promote social welfare". * * * You can't interfere with your personal pursuit of wealth at all, and you don't have to worry that this laissez-faire will create chaos. "An invisible hand" will arrange laissez-faire personal economic activities in an orderly manner. In other words, Adam Smith's market concept focuses on limiting intervention in individual economic activities. The Wealth of Nations also devoted considerable space to attacking the mercantilist policy of interfering with individual economic activities and restricting individual economic power (property rights). Later classical economists also insisted on laissez-faire.
The "Perfect" Price Mechanism of Neoclassicism
On the basis of introducing marginal concepts and mathematical arguments, neoclassicism established a formal "perfect" mathematical model for neoclassicism "laissez-faire order": general equilibrium. In this model, price is the most important independent variable, and this model can also be called price mechanism. The process of achieving general equilibrium is also the process of social resources flowing under the guidance of price, so the price mechanism regulates the allocation of social resources.
The market concept of neoclassicism, besides adding "perfection" in form, does not add new ideological connotation to classical theory in essence. In other words, under the surface of the neoclassical "perfect" mathematical model, it is still a classical laissez-faire order, and "new" means "new" in form. Moreover, the perfection of this form is at the expense of the depth of thought, and the exquisite general equilibrium model arbitrarily abstracts the logical support of "personal pursuit of satisfying selfish desires and promoting social welfare"
"Need * * Intervention" in Total Economics
The Great Depression in the 1920s and 1930s forced western economic theorists to rethink the definition of market in classical theory. The final answer is that complete laissez-faire is not enough, the invisible hand sometimes does not exist, the market will fail, and * * * will interfere with the "aggregate" of economic activities, so "aggregate economics" was born. Roosevelt also accepted Keynes's suggestion and implemented the "New Deal" of * * * intervening in the economy. At present, financial policy, monetary policy and other economic intervention measures that have basically reached a consensus around the world have been formed. Of course, these are no longer "new" policies.
The premise of the new system is clear property rights.
In the face of market failure, Coase gave the opposite answer. The external utility problem can be solved by defining the relevant property rights and using the market without intervention. Zhang Wuchang is even more absolute. He said that there is no so-called external utility at all, only the state of unclear property rights. In any case, Coase has brought revolutionary innovation to the market concept. He made people realize that the key of the market is not the impersonal mechanical "price mechanism", but the power (property right) of the participants in economic activities.
If classical economists explain that "market" is "laissez-faire order", then Coase answers how to realize "laissez-faire order" or "price mechanism".
How does the China market understand the market?
China's understanding of the market mainly refers to western economic theories mechanically, but ignores their assumptions and implied assumptions. China's so-called mainstream economists' understanding of the market is more from neoclassicism. In other words, the market is a price mechanism for effectively allocating social resources. Although China also introduced new institutional economics, he did not fully understand the meaning of "property right", but mechanically thought that property right was a power based on "stock property".
The market can indeed be described as a laissez-faire price mechanism. However, this price mechanism does not operate in a vacuum, and it cannot operate effectively in any social system. The effective operation of the price mechanism needs a basic premise, which is Smith's implicit assumption: to recognize the individual's "selfish desires" and to clarify and protect the individual's property rights. Clear and guaranteed personal property rights are the basic prerequisite for the existence of the market. Recognizing individual's "selfish desires" and clarifying and protecting individual property rights need corresponding institutional support, but our society does not have such a system.
Because mainstream economics in China mechanically understands property rights as power based on existing property, China's property rights reform focuses on existing state-owned assets, and then puts forward an absurd simple "privatization" scheme, clearly approximating property rights as "privatization". This is a complete misunderstanding of Coase, of Aqin, and even an insult to them. The clear and accurate description of property rights should be to clarify the individual's right to pursue wealth.
In the context of China, what the market should mean.
Based on the above analysis, the market in the social background of China should be defined as: the market is a system that recognizes the individual's "selfish desires" and clarifies and guarantees the individual's right to pursue wealth, which is property rights. Therefore, the definition of the market is as simple as this: the market is a system that recognizes individual desires and protects individual property rights. Then "marketization" is the process of establishing a system that recognizes individual desires, clarifies and guarantees individual property rights. The system of recognizing individual desires, clarifying and protecting individual property rights includes corresponding morality, values and laws and regulations.
Judging from this definition of market, whether domestic mainstream economists denounce it as "anti-market" or insist on the mainstream of "marketization", it is actually "anti-market"! !
The book of changes, a primitive society in history, wrote about the origin of the market like this: "Shennong is the city of Japan, with the people of the world, collecting the wealth of the world, and the transaction retreats, each with its own place." Sima Guang also said in "A Mirror of Capitalism": "Shennong is the city of Japan, with the people of the world, gathering the wealth of the world, and retiring after business, which is the beginning of building a city." Both of these views believe that the original market began to appear from the Shennong era. But Shennong is a legendary ancient emperor, not necessarily a real person. But one thing is certain: after the ancient society of China entered the agricultural period and the social productive forces developed to a certain extent, the ancestors began to exchange a small amount of surplus products, thus creating the original market. The original market is: the market. "City" was also called "marketplace" in ancient times. This is because the original transaction was conducted by oil wells. "Historical Records of Justice" wrote: "The ancients gathered water and sold things. Because they became the market, they became the market. " In ancient times, before the formal market was built, it was often "prospered by wells". This has two advantages, one is to solve the problem of water use for merchants and livestock, and the other is to wash goods. "Custom Pass" says: "Wash on the well to make it fragrant and clean." Later, near the towns in Shaanxi Province, there were wells for businessmen to drink horses. This ancient heritage has continued. Until liberation, it can still be seen in towns and villages. The word "market" is still in use today.
During the Han Dynasty and the Western Han Dynasty, there were six major commercial cities in China, with Chang 'an as its capital. Relying on the convenience of land and water trade routes, it is connected with other famous commercial cities in China, such as Luoyang, Handan, Linzi, Wan and Chengdu, forming a nationwide commercial network. Sima Qian said: "Guanzhong accounts for one-third of the world's land, but the population does not exceed three;" However, it is rich. It ranks sixth. "As you can imagine, Chang 'an is rich in wealth and material resources. Chang 'an's business circle is mainly distributed in nine cities. Among them, seven famous cities were tested, namely Xishi, Liushi, Dongshi, Xiaoli, Zhishi (named Zhishi because the price is the same), Jiaomen and Jiaodaoting. The planes of nine cities are all square. 266 steps for all parties. All the cities have built walls named Tan, and the gates are named A.. There is a cross-shaped passage in the city, which is called a tunnel. On both sides of the tunnel are "columns", also called "city columns", which are buildings for displaying goods. Four rows, neat and orderly. Behind the shop, next to the city wall, there is a shop for stacking goods, called "Cai", which is the "Bi" of the Zhou Dynasty. As long as businessmen do business in the city, they must register, which is the so-called "city registration". People who have obtained city registration must pay "city rent" to the government. The management organization of the city is located on the "flag pavilion" (also known as the "tower"). From the description in Zhang Heng's Xijing Fu in the Eastern Han Dynasty, "Guo Kai's nine cities are connected by shovels. Look at the 50% discount of the flag pavilion, overlooking hundreds of tunnels, and the buildings in the nine cities are all spectacular.
According to Records of Historical Records and Biography of Huo Zhi, there were the following commodities circulating in the market at that time: first, agricultural products, including grain, fresh vegetables (such as leeks and ginger) and dried vegetables; Second, forest products, including logs, bamboo poles, firewood, fruits (such as oranges and Shan Ye miscellaneous fruits) and dried fruits (chestnuts); 3. Animal products, including horns and tendons of cattle, sheep, pork, cowhide, sheepskin, pigskin and livestock; Four, fishery products, including fresh fish, dried fish and small miscellaneous fish; Five, agricultural and sideline products, including soybean paste, wine, pulp (acidic drinks), silk, wadding (silk cotton), wool products, fox skin, etc. ; 6. Handicrafts, such as ox carts, trolleys, lacquerware, bronzes, ironware, mats, wood products, etc. Seven, mineral products, such as cinnabar. In addition, there are handmaids who are bought and sold as labor. The Three Parts of Salt and Iron lists the names of many cooked foods in Chang 'an, such as young dolphin and leek eggs, dog's stomach, fried fish liver, sheep cold chicken, horse cheese wine, grabbing stomach and chest, sheep beans, goose soup, self-salted pork, hot beam and roast. There are also fortune tellers selling divination in Chang 'an. Historical Records Biography of Japan records the story that Jia Yi and others went to Dongshi to visit the fortune teller Sima Zhu Ji in the early years of the Western Han Dynasty. Shopping malls are also places for execution.
According to Hanshu, when Emperor Jingdi was in power, Chao Cuo, an ancient imperial counselor, was beheaded in Dongcheng, and "parents, wives and concubines all abandoned the city". Later, "the clothes of the East City" became an allusion, specifically referring to killing ministers. In addition to the nine cities, Chang 'an has some smaller markets. For example, when students in imperial academy are born on the first day of each month, they gather in the locust tree forest near imperial academy to trade the products, classics, books and musical instruments of the county, which is called "Shi Huai". There are many people who get rich by doing business in Guanzhong area. Some people get rich by usury or hoarding, while others get rich by selling pulp and preserving their stomachs. At that time, a folk proverb said: "To seek wealth from poverty, agriculture is not as good as industry, and industry is not as good as business;" Embroidering is better than leaning against the city gate. "Under the temptation of the social atmosphere of getting rich by doing business, many farmers left their land and went to the city to do business. It has formed a deformed phenomenon of "few people cultivate, many people travel, and the grain is not ripe but the goods are surplus". During the Han Dynasty, the "Silk Road" across Europe and East Asia was gradually unblocked. Foreign envoys and businessmen came to Chang 'an in an endless stream. They brought their own specialties in exchange for goods from China. These people all live in the barbarian mansion on Autumn Street in Chang 'an. The barbarian mansion belongs to a diplomatic and commercial official, namely Dahonglu.
In the formal market of the Zhou Dynasty, daily trading activities were held in three times: morning market, afternoon market and night market. The participants in the night market are all small traders and vendors. The market has a door. Entering the market is called "entering the market" When entering the arena, there is a small official holding a whip at the door to maintain the order of entering the arena. Every trading place in the market is called "Division". There are several stores in the same market according to different types of business. There is a house for storing goods in the city, named "Geng", which is the pallet house for later generations. All goods are built by the government, so businessmen must pay taxes on their goods. This kind of goods is called "cloth" (cloth, money). Vouchers used in trade are called "pledges". Among them, long coupons are called "quality" and are used to buy goods such as cattle and horses. Short coupons are called "agents" and are used to buy weapons and rare things. The big market uses "quality" and the small market uses "agent". Orders issued by market officials are called "market orders". Businessmen must obey the city order, or they will be punished. One of the ways of punishment is fine, which is called "fine city". The market is not only a place for commodity trading, but also an execution ground for criminals. After the executioner kills the criminal, he exposes the body to the public, which is called "abandoning the market". The market is the activity place of "ordinary people" and the execution ground, so * * * does not allow powerful people to enter the market at will. Those who enter will be punished. "Li Zhou Di Guan" wrote: "Madam will be punished when she goes through the field; If the prince crosses the city, he will be fined; Life husband across the city, a cover; If a woman walks through the market, she will be fined. " The reason for this is to "don't be condescending" (in Zheng Kangcheng's words), that is, to maintain the identity of these people. Market Town (Stone Tomb of Han Dynasty)
Song dynasty 1: the boundary between the city and the square was broken, and the operation time limit was also broken. Trade activities are no longer directly regulated by the government.
2. "Herbivores" are more common in suburbs and rural areas.
Hankou Town, Foshan Town, Jingdezhen Town and Zhuxian Town are four famous commercial towns.