Lindblom - The Market System - Afghan Journalists' Committee

Maximum Reach 89Another circular interpretation is that market activityconsists of activities involving commodities and services. Itdoes, but the statement is empty, again a tautology. What isa commodity? It is a thing or object that is bought and soldin the market, distinguished from other objects that are not.An heirloom teapot is not usually a commodity but can becomeone if offered for sale. My kidney is not a commodityunless offered in a market for human parts. What is a service?It is in this context—that is, when linked in thephrase “commodities and services”—a performance that isbought and sold in the market, distinguished from thosethat are not. Your helpful advice to a friend is not, in thiscontext, a service unless you charge for it. But we still needto know which kinds of objects and what kinds of performancescan and cannot be coordinated through the market.All that this interpretation tells us is that whichever objectsand performances enter into the market system, theywill be called commodities and services.Maximum DomainA satisfactory answer to the scope question lies in the precedingthree chapters and needs only to be made explicit.We again discard the concept of the economy as unneededand obstructively implying too narrow a scope. We beginwith a recognition that, at its maximum, the market systemcan coordinate the provision of any and all performancesand objects that can be bought and sold. It is notlimited to any subcategory of that category. We then go onto specify what it is about some objects and performancesthat makes it possible for them but not others to be boughtand sold.Clearly the qualifying performances and objects consti-