Inside economics, a market which runs under laissez-faire policies is a free market. It is “free” within the sense that the federal government makes no attempt to intervene through taxes, subsidies, minimum wages, price ceilings, etc. Market prices could be distorted by any seller or retailers with monopoly energy, or a customer with monopsony energy. Such price distortions might have an adverse impact on market participant’s welfare and reduce the efficiency of industry outcomes. Also, the relative degree of organization and discussing power of buyers and sellers markedly affects the functioning of the market. Markets where cost negotiations meet balance though still usually do not arrive at wanted outcomes for both sides are said to experience market failing.
Markets are a system, and systems possess structure. System works fine if the structure of a system is in good condition. Structure of any (utopistically) well-functioning marketplaces is defined theoretically of perfect opposition. Well-functioning markets of your real world will never be perfect, but basic structural characteristics may be approximated for real world markets, for example
many small buyers and sellers
buyers and retailers have equal access to information
products are equivalent
Buying and selling in well-structured markets creates an amount that satisfies both buyers and retailers, not buying as well as selling alone as the free market proponents tells us. For example, trade unions are now and again accused of spoiling the marketplace mechanims of any labour markets, in reality it’s the opposite: blue collar business unions make the buyer and seller much more equally powerful once they negotiate the price to get a working hour. When the customer and seller tend to be equally powerful, then the price to get a commodity is appropriate to both celebrations.

January 25th, 2012
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