From Opportunity to Imperative: The History of the Market

Abstract

Just about every definition of the "market" in the dictionary connotes an opportunity: as a concrete locale or institution, a market is a place where opportunities exist to buy and sell; as an abstraction, a market is the possibility of sale. Goods "find a market," and we say there is a market for a service or commodity when there is a demand for it, which means it can and will be sold. Markets are opened to those who want to sell. The market represents "conditions as regards, opportunity for, buying and selling" (The Concise Oxford Dictionary). The market implies offering and choice.

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