Market (def)

A Market is simply [a real or virtual set of 1] somewhere[s] [physical, virtual, or other conceptual 2] things are bought [traded 3] and sold. (page 26),

• 1] Assumed, the somewhere can be also virtual and can consist of a set of interrelated single markets.
  
  
• 2] Things can be generalized to other than physical objects such as intelectual property, songs, software...
  
  
• 3] Similarly bought and sold can be generalized to situations where the more conventional "money" transfer is replaced by some "payment" in kind.

There are at least 3 different markets:

1. Goods Market -- Note: one can perhaps subdivide this into Consumables, Investment, and Tools, and probably others depending on how the good is "used", e.g. for "pleasure"..., for future wealth, or to permit production.
   
2. Labor Market -- Again this may be divided into the purpose of the labor to the buyer, e.g. is it for immediate consumption or for producing goods.
   
3. Financial Market --
   
   

Notes:

• 0: My comments are generally normal or italic text where as the original author's are BOLD.
  
  
• 1: One can "narrow" a market to dealing with a specific product or set at a specific location..., but it is important to remember that since money is fungible and since products are shareable, conplementary, and competative, the Market, for example, for food corn in Chicago is effected by the markets in New York, for Sugar and for Ethenal.

From:

How Markets Fail: The Logic of Economic Calamities

~ John Cassidy 2009

• [D]escribes the rising influence of what he calls utopian economics—thinking that is blind to how real people act and that denies the many ways an unregulated free market can produce disastrous unintended consequences. He then looks to the leading edge of economic theory, including behavioral economics, to offer a new understanding of the economy—one that casts aside the old assumption that people and firms make decisions purely on the basis of rational self-interest.

Also see:

• Reviews of “How Markets Fail” Posted by John Cassidy -- November 16, 2009
• John Cassidy's New Yorker bio and Columns