Social Construction of Markets

* Article: La construction sociale des marchés. Benjamin Coriat and Olivier Weinstein. Lettre de la Regulation 53, No. 9, 2006

URL = https://books.openedition.org/emsha/324?lang=en

Also republished in: In: LA THÉORIE DE LA RÉGULATION AU FIL DU TEMPS; Robert Boyer ; Chapitre 6. Nouveaux objets de recherche, pp. 319-327. Éditions des maisons des sciences de l’homme associées, 2018

Summary

From the reading notes of Michel Bauwens, 2006:

There are two kinds of market approaches:

- 1) The Walrassian market where atomized individuals are perfectly informed, leading to the optimal distribution of goods

- 2) Markets as historical and social constructs, embedded in an institutional framework, i.e. the 'regulatory approach'

A transaction is not so much a transfer of goods, but of objects to which rights are attached, i.e. property. These rights are institutionally determined, and must also be enforceable.

The same argument goes for the definition of an 'object' (or service), particularly in an immaterial economy,; even money is institutionally defined and regulated.

The market cannot be reduced to a series of bilateral relations:

   - “Il y a marché dans la mesure où les agents sont soumis à un même système de règles.”

The market is a field which actors like to localize in order to create beneficial asymmetrical rules.

To understand markets, here are four observations:

- 1) the object has to be defined (subject to rules and conditions)

- 2) the organization of the relations between agents

- 3) monetary evaluation tools are highly significant (what is it, that is being compared ?)

- 4) what groups are playing a role (social architecture)

Finally,

   - “En contraste avec l’analyse qui depuis Coates a privilégié l’opposition entre firmes et marchés, on doit par contre considérer ‘les marchés de firmes’, car ce sont elles qui dominent.”