Markets

Archaeology as a Social Science

by Gary Feinman

Reassessing Markets and Employment Relations

by Marco Hauptmeier

In: Paul Blython, Ed Heery and Peter Turnbull. Reassessing the Employment Relationship. Palgrave Macmillan: Hampshire. pp. 171-194. 2012.

In this chapter I explore how markets shape employment relations. In this chapter I explore how markets shape employment relations.

Nou centre socio-comercial a Tarragona

by Ferran Gris

Master thesis (pre-Bologna period)

Autor: Gris Jeremías, Ferran
Tutor/director: Jubert Rosich, Luís
Universitat: Escola Tècnica Superior d'Arquitectura del Vallès : Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya
Data: jul-2007

La ciutat de Tarragona va estar tancada dins del perímetre de la muralla romana i posteriors ampliacions fins al 1854... more La ciutat de Tarragona va estar tancada dins del perímetre de la muralla romana i posteriors ampliacions fins al 1854 quan va començar l’enderroc d’aquesta. A partir d’aquí, l’augment de 3 vegades la població durant els anys de postguerra va portar Tarragona a situar tots els equipaments que una ciutat moderna necessita al nou espai en expansió de la ciutat, L’Eixample Nord on grans solars resultants de la forma radial van permetre la construcció de l’hospital Universitari Joan XXIII, la presó provincial, el Govern Civil (Alejandro de la Sota), l’IES Martí i Franquès, residencia d’estudiants i instal•lacions esportives de la Universitat Rovira i Virgili. A més aquesta zona es va qualificar de volumetria específica on els edificis d’habitatges no donaven continuïtat urbana ni responien a la necessitat de comerços de productes bàsics. Actualment, tot i algunes variacions en la tipologia edificatòria, segueix sent una area dormitori que necessitat del centre de la ciutat tant per la cultura com per el comerç. La proposta equilibra la ciutat al dotar L’Eixample Nord d’un centre multifuncional que maximitza les possibilitats d’ús del solar alhora que allibera de carga al centre de la ciutat sovint congestionat. Aquest centre estructura el programa rodejant la plaça com a espai de trobada dels diferents usos, és travessat per permetre més punts d’accés, es deforma per donar la millor resposta a cada peça de programa i finalment es desencaixa al llarg de l’eix principal per a través de dues places fer més amable la trobada amb els edificis adjacents.

Intención de Compra de los Hombres Frente a Productos Femeninos

by Juan Pablo Reyes Villaveces

Trabajo original de Juan Pablo Reyes Villaveces

El objetivo de este artículo es contribuir al estudio de la transgresión del género en el mercadeo y ayudar a... more El objetivo de este artículo es contribuir al estudio de la transgresión del género en el mercadeo y ayudar a demostrar que lo que anteriormente se dirigía al consumo femenino, también puede ser dirigido al consumo masculino. Para ello, se busca responder la pregunta ¿los hombres heterosexuales están dispuestos a comprar productos que son de uso típicamente femenino a pesar de asociar esta intención de compra con la homosexualidad? Lo anterior permitirá indagar sobre si las empresas pueden dirigir productos de uso típicamente femenino a hombres heterosexuales encontrando una intención de compra positiva sin perjudicar la marca en el proceso. Para tal fin, se procedió a realizar una encuesta que midió la intención de compra, la identidad sexual, la agradabilidad de la marca, el grado de asociación de estos productos con la homosexualidad y la tolerancia a dicha identidad sexual. El tratamiento estadístico de las variables permitió encontrar que los hombres heterosexuales aun no están dispuestos a comprar productos de uso típicamente femenino independiente de su respeto por la homosexualidad. El estudio concluye que las empresas aun deben abordar con mayor cautela este tipo de mercados y estudiar mejor la transgresión del género en el mercadeo antes de lanzar un producto de uso típicamente femenino a hombres.

Detecting Marketplace Exchange in Archaeology: A Methodological Review

by Christopher Garraty

Stark, Barbara L., and Christopher P. Garraty (2010) Detecting Marketplace Exchange in Archaeology: A Methodological Review. In Archaeological Approaches to Market Exchange in Ancient Societies, edited by Christopher P. Garraty and Barbara L. Stark, pp. 33-61. University Press of Colorado, Boulder.

Methods to Elicit Forecasts from Groups: Delphi and Prediction Markets Compared

by J Armstrong

Co-authored with Kesten C. Green and Andreas Graefe. Forthcoming in Foresight: The International Journal of Applied Forecasting. Working paper.

Traditional groups meetings are an inefficient and ineffective method for making forecasts and decisions. We compare... more Traditional groups meetings are an inefficient and ineffective method for making forecasts and decisions. We compare two structured alternatives to traditional meetings: the Delphi technique and prediction markets. Delphi is relatively simple and cheap to implement and has been adopted for diverse applications in business and government since its origins in the 1950s. It can be used for nearly any forecasting, estimation, or decision making problem not barred by complexity or ignorance. While prediction markets were used more than a century ago, their popularity waned until more recent times. Prediction markets can be run continuously, and they motivate participation and participants to reveal their true beliefs. On the other hand, they need many participants and clear outcomes in order to determine pay-offs. Moreover, translating knowledge into a price is not intuitive to everyone and constructing contracts that will provide a useful forecast may not be possible for some problems. It is difficult to maintain confidentiality with markets and they are vulnerable to manipulation. Delphi is designed to reveal panelists’ knowledge and opinions via their forecasts and the reasoning they provide. This format allows testing of knowledge and learning by panelists as they refine their forecasts but may also lead to conformity due to group pressure. The reasoning provided as an output of the Delphi process is likely to be reassuring to forecast users who are uncomfortable with the “black box” nature of prediction markets. We consider that, half a century after its original development, Delphi is under-utilized.

Thesis Abstract

by Etienne Nouguez

Measuring the Degree of Market Power in the Export Demand for Nigerian Cocoa: An Analysis of Dutch Market

by Codrin Paveliuc-Olariu

Co-authored with I. N. Nwachukwu, C. E. Onyenweaku, J. C. Nwaru

Published in Journal of Social and Development Sciences Vol. 2, No. 3, pp. 94-103, Sep 2011 (ISSN 2221-1152)

The study examined the degree of market power in the export demand for Nigerian Cocoa with focus on the Dutch Market.... more The study examined the degree of market power in the export demand for Nigerian Cocoa with focus on the Dutch Market. The study covered the periods of 1961–2007 and data comprised published national aggregates on specific trade and macroeconomic variables from reputable sources. Two Stage Least Squares (2 SLS) approach was used in the estimation after instrumenting for simultaneity and establishing stationarity alongside cointegration relationship. Findings, on the demand side, showed that the demand for cocoa increases as income of Netherlands (importing country) increases. Total production of the non–participating countries traced out a positive relationship with demand for cocoa by the importing country while the coefficient of price of Coffee (substitute crop) possessed a negative sign. On the supply relation side, the demand for the export crop has a negative sign, indicating decreasing marginal output with respect to cost while the proxy for ocean freight rate with its negative sign, imply increasing export cost. The result further showed that there is relative competitiveness in the Dutch market on the strength of a market power coefficient -0.712 with a Lerner index of 0.122. Based on the findings, the study calls for government intervention in the agricultural export subsector with the aim to revitalize the country’s agricultural export capacity and enhance her market power via increased market shares. These interventions could be in the form of input/production subsidies, targeted export promotion programs, farm settlement, expanded export processing zones to mention but a few.

Markets for Land, Labor, and Capital in Northern Italy and the Low Countries, Twelfth to Seventeenth Centuries

by Bas van Bavel

Comparative analysis of the markets for land, labor, and capital in north-central Italy and the Low Countries in the... more Comparative analysis of the markets for land, labor, and capital in north-central Italy and the Low Countries in the late Middle Ages and the early modern period reveals that urbanization in itself was not the crucial variable in the quality and effect of developing factor markets. More important was the counterweight offered in this process by territorial lords and rural interests to the influence of urban elites. If this counterweight was missing, urban elites could exploit factor markets to their own ends.

Le marché aux fruits et légumes de Rungis (entretien)

by Antoine Bernard de Raymond

article paru dans Terrains & Travaux, 4, 2003

Ce texte étude les pratiques des grossistes des Marchés d’Intérêt National, sur le secteur du « carreau », où se... more Ce texte étude les pratiques des grossistes des Marchés d’Intérêt National, sur le secteur du « carreau », où se pratique la vente de gré à gré. Il montre que ces pratiques, loin de correspondre à la persistance d’un certain archaïsme, à l’époque de la grande distribution, correspondent à une certaine manière de gérer la spécificité des produits, en occurrence les fruits et légumes. La fragilité et l’évolutivité des produits en particulier, font qu’apparaissent en permanence des écarts aux normes de commercialisation, qui apparaissent insuffisantes aux acteurs pour se coordonner. Ceux-ci adoptent alors un triple mode de fonctionnement, fondé sur les réseaux interpersonnels, la prise sensible des produits, et la mise en concurrence, afin de pouvoir faire face à toute défaillance d’un partenaire habituel de l’échange.

Dispositifs d’intermédiation marchande et politique des marchés. La modernisation du marché des fruits et légumes en France. 1950-1980

by Antoine Bernard de Raymond

article paru dans Sociologie du Travail, 52, 2010, pp. 1-20

Cet article étudie les différentes expériences d’organisation du marché des fruits et légumes, menées des années 1950... more Cet article étudie les différentes expériences d’organisation du marché des fruits et légumes, menées des années 1950 à la fin des années 1970. Il montre ainsi qu’il existait des alternatives au principe de la distribution, telles que la modernisation des marchés de gros traditionnels (le carreau) ou la mise en place de marchés au cadran contrôlés par les producteurs. L’article explicite la logique propre à chacun de ces trois dispositifs marchands. Ensuite, il revient sur les conditions empiriques de mise en œuvre de la modernisation des marchés et met en exergue les contraintes qui pèsent sur les acteurs du marché, en particulier les tensions entre homogénéisation et concentration d’une part, et singularité des produits et des transactions d’autre part.

La construction d'un marché national des fruits et légumes: entre économie, espace et droit (1896-1995)

by Antoine Bernard de Raymond

article paru dans Genèses, 56, 2004, pp. 28-50

Cet article, étudiant les transformations de la réglementation des marchés de gros en France au 20e siècle, montre le... more Cet article, étudiant les transformations de la réglementation des marchés de gros en France au 20e siècle, montre le rôle de la qualification institutionnelle de l’espace dans la construction des activités économiques. A partir du cas des Halles Centrales de Paris, puis des Marchés d’Intérêt National (MIN), l’article souligne en particulier que toute réglementation sur les places de marchés (définissant les produits, les transactions, les agents, les horaires, les contrôles et les sanctions, etc.) doit se confronter à la question des frontières du marché. Le jeu sur les frontières du marché (entre les sous-espaces du marché, entre le marché et le hors-marché) devient alors un outil pour les acteurs économiques pour construire des stratégies. L’étude du contentieux sur les frontières du marché permet alors d’observer les transformations des fonctions économiques remplies par les marchés. La loi sur les Halles Centrales de Paris visait, dans le cadre d’un marché complètement polarisé autour de la capitale, à assurer la juste représentation des producteurs de province à Paris, à travers la création d’un corps de mandataires officiels. La réglementation visait notamment à empêcher les transactions successives à l’intérieur des Halles. Toutefois, l’apparition rapide d’un « marché libre » à côte du « marché officiel » limite considérablement la portée de la loi. Les MIN apparaissent pour crée un marché national unifié, et se défaire de la centralité parisienne. Ces nouveaux marchés sont notamment dotés de périmètres de protection, pour éviter la concurrence de bords. Avec l’apparition de la grande distribution, les MIN censés être le pivot de la modernisation commerciale jouent finalement un rôle de protection de la diversité des formes de commerce, comme en témoigne le contentieux autour des périmètres de protection.

La regulación contra y con el mercado

by Alberto Riesco-Sanz

La incomprensión mutua entre los adalides del mercado, en pos de la "eficiencia", y los de la regulación y... more La incomprensión mutua entre los adalides del mercado, en pos de la "eficiencia", y los de la regulación y el Plan, en pos de la "cohesión social", sigue monopolizando hoy, igual que ayer, el debate público en un contexto marcado por la crisis económica mundial. Partiendo de ciertos desarrollos de la obra de Pierre Naville, y al hilo de la publicación en nuestro país de un trabajo de investigación de su principal discípulo, Pierre Rolle, los autores de este artículo tratan de esbozar una reconstrucción alternativa del envite central propio de nuestras sociedades salariales: la consolidación de nuevas planificaciones democráticas, descentralizadas y experimentales de intercambios de usos, servicios y disfrutes frente a las constricciones impuestas por el intercambio de valores y el trabajo asalariado (vengan estos últimos activados tanto por vías mercantiles como por vías administradas).

Aligning Collective Production with Demand: Evidence from Wikipedia

by Andreea Gorbatai

Economic markets align supply and demand through prices. However, many social phenomena lack pricing to inform... more Economic markets align supply and demand through prices. However, many social phenomena lack pricing to inform producers about consumer demand. This can lead to the over or under-production of certain goods and services. In this paper, I propose a simple social mechanism that aligns collective production with demand. I argue that this will occur as long as three conditions are met: first, that consumers attempt to become occasional producers; second, that these attempts are observed by producers who interpret them as signs of unmet demand; and last, that producers are willing and capable of providing these goods. I test this theory using a large dataset on English Wikipedia articles, created by merging information on article production, views, quality, and knowledge type. The results are consistent with my theory, suggesting that this simple social mechanism can take the role of prices in certain markets. This study has implications for the sociology of markets by highlighting a largely ignored collective action-demand alignment mechanism; and for collective production in organizational and non-organizational settings such as collective creativity, scientific collaboration, and community production of collective goods by identifying an unexpected benefit from consumer contributions.

How a Huckster Becomes a Custodian of Market Morality: Traditions of Flexibility in Exchange in Dominica

by Jeffrey Mantz

No Place for a Free-for-All

by Brendan McSweeney

Demonstrates that the claim made by a leading activist at the Institute of Economic Affairs that the current and... more Demonstrates that the claim made by a leading activist at the Institute of Economic Affairs that the current and previous Popes are/was supporters of the 'free market' is false.

A Competitive Market in Human Organs

by Danny Frederick

Libertarian Papers, 2, 27 (2010)

I offer consequentialist and deontological arguments for a competitive market in human organs, from live as well as... more I offer consequentialist and deontological arguments for a competitive market in human organs, from live as well as dead donors. I consider the objections that a market in organs will frustrate altruism, coerce the desperate, expose under-informed agents to unacceptable risks, exacerbate inequality, degrade those who participate in it, involve a kind of slavery, impose invidious costs, and impair third-party choice sets. I show that each of these objections is without merit and that, in consequence, the opposition to markets in organs is an untenable endorsement of death, suffering and the suppression of freedom.

The Market of One in the Creative Industries

by Alice Atkinson-Bonasio

The “Market of One” to which Nicholas Negroponte referred seemingly implies that customers can be reduced to a basic... more The “Market of One” to which Nicholas Negroponte referred seemingly implies that customers can be reduced to a basic set of socioeconomic data and purchase indicators. What it signifies, however, is that the exchange of information between consumers and producers will continue to grow in complexity, with customers expecting – and successful businesses providing – goods and services that are increasingly customised and personalised to their own individual needs and preferences.

Knowledge, legitimacy and economic practice in informal markets for medicine: A critical review of research

by Jamie Cross

Placing the ‘post-social’ market: Identity and spatiality in the xeno-economy

by Angus Cameron

With Steve Brown, Simon Lilley & Geoff Lightfoot.
In Marketing Theory. Vol.10, No. 3, 2010:299-312.

Following Knorr Cetina and Bruegger (2002), an understanding of financial markets as ‘post-social’ environments has... more Following Knorr Cetina and Bruegger (2002), an understanding of financial markets as ‘post-social’ environments has gained sway. This claim is premised on the idea that new technologies, in particular screen displays of complex real-time financial information, have displaced ‘the market’ from the social and economic relations in which it might otherwise be assumed to be embedded. We argue that recent historical transformations in trading and markets are better characterized as ‘re-spatializations’ involving shifts in the placing and mediation of market spatiality. Material from the City Lives project and other sources is analysed to explore the transformation of the London International Financial Futures Exchange (LIFFE) from the early 1980s onwards. Using the notion of ‘xeno-economy’ (cf. Rotman’s (1987) ‘xeno-money’) it is argued that the spatial redistributions of the market did not so much efface sociality as set up new kinds of relations between local traders and institutions, notably mediated through geographical displaced ‘trading arcades’. The immanence of modes of sociality to markets as intrinsically and necessarily social objects is thereby emphasized.