Markets

Key Terms
• Exchange
• Money prices
• Transaction costs
• Specialization
• Property rights
• Market-clearing price
• Interdependence
• Monetary costs
• Non-monetary costs

Lesson Objectives

1. Review the nature of voluntary exchange, drawing on the experiences in "Why People Trade."
o No one forced people to trade; why did they? (anticipation of benefit)
o Who benefited from each exchange? (mutual benefit)
o Why were some people able to trade more than others?
o What was the opportunity cost of the trade you made?

2. Define market - and discuss why they are our preferred method of rationing. (Relate to "Why People Trade" - was that a market? how so?)
o How do people behave in markets?
o Markets work as positive sum games when:
there are clearly defined "rules of the game;"
property rights are clearly established and are protected; and
there is freedom to exchange.
o How would our market have been different if we had used money?

3. Define incentives as both rewards and penalties for behavior.
o There are monetary and non-monetary incentives.

4. The role of prices in markets.
o Prices provide information.
o Prices act as a rationing mechanism.
o Prices are incentives - for buyers and sellers.

5. Prices play a crucial coordinating role in commercial societies; they provide incentives for buyers and sellers to act in ways that lessen the impact of scarcity.
o Reminder of law of demand from first lesson. How do buyers react to changing prices?
o Reminder of law of supply from first lesson. How do sellers react to changing prices?

Definitions
Exchange - Trade; voluntary agreements between buyers and sellers.
Market clearing price - The price at which all that suppliers are willing to sell equals all that buyers are willing to purchase; the price at which quantity demanded equals quantity supplied.
Non-monetary costs - See transaction costs.
Property rights - The conditions of ownership, including the rights and restrictions regarding use, ownership, and sale.
Specialization - Occurs when individuals, businesses, regions or nations concentrate on producing only those goods and services that they can best (most efficiently) produce, given their existing resources.
Transaction costs - The resources (like time and energy) that are used in making an exchange. Examples of transaction costs are time spent shopping or the time and energy necessary to negotiate a contract.