A market is where buyers and sellers meet to exchange goods, services, or resources. It can be a physical place, like a fish market at dawn. It can be a virtual space, like an online auction. It can be a loose network of traders who never meet. The defining feature is exchange.

Markets coordinate activity without central direction. Prices carry information. When a good is scarce, prices rise, signaling buyers to conserve and sellers to produce more. When it is abundant, prices fall. This mechanism is powerful but imperfect. It can produce bubbles, shortages, and inequality.

Markets take many forms. Some are highly competitive with many small sellers. Others are dominated by a few giants. Some are regulated heavily. Others operate in the shadows. The rules shape behavior. A market without trust or enforcement tends to collapse.

Types of markets

• Perfect competition
• Monopolistic competition
• Oligopoly
• Monopoly
• Factor markets for labor and capital