One of the mistakes people who look at my pro commerce arguments make is to assume that I worship the power and effectiveness of markets.
I am here to tell you that commerce is not based on the ‘market’. The market concept was first understood by Adam Smith and has always been central to the thinking of economics.
The classic concept of a market does exist locally and globally. These markets are primarily in the world of commodities and tangible products. Markets are an abstract idea in most other areas of commerce.
There is nothing resembling a market in houses and apartments. In China you get a rental unit from postings in your own family (tong).
Housing sales and rental transactions are based on the most complex possible details. The objects involved are not comparable one to one. A single house is rarely like another especially when you include location. The same is true for apartments. Yet there are prices for houses and apartments. There are transactions. These highly incongruous objects (including their locations) compete with each other in an environment that is not a traditional market. They are not identical they are only competitive with each other in the most abstract sense of a market. 'Transactions in a category of goods and services' would be a more accurate description than market. Reserve the term 'market' for objects that are fairly comparable and have a narrow price range.
The same absence of a market is true of services, whether the service is legal representation or healthcare. You do not choose the institution to handle your money, your legal work or anything to do with your health based on the lowest price available. In this sense these choices do not occur in a market, they occur in a 'category of services'. In such cases the term ‘market’ is truly an abstract and impractical notion.
Most choices of what car or mode of transportation to use, are far too complex to be considered part of any ‘market. Especially since many of these choices have to do with statements of individual values and style's. People are saying who they are.
The strongest argument about the lack of importance of classic markets, in the economic sense, is that we make complex decisions every day, the more advanced the society, the greater the income involved the less price is a determinant. The idea of a traditional market is primarily centered on price.
Commerce is about technological innovation, complex interpersonal relations and most importantly about individual development of our most personal attributes: our identity and our authenticity.
We take jobs without primary concern for the highest possible wages or the lowest possible costs. We take jobs that suit our needs and desires most. The most important decisions do not occur in a 'market'.
Commerce is concerned with a wide range of human needs and desires. It is only occurs in a ‘market’ in an abstract sense.