Participants at weekend, night & street markets

Abstract

[Extract] In line with the general acceptance by economists and politicians of globalisation and the veneration of free market forces, the retail sector in Australia and in most other OECD countries has seen a tremendous concentration of vendors. In spite of this, the aim of this research monograph is to investigate the emergence of weekend, night and street markets. Generally these are an "unexplored territory" of economics, and often these markets have been regarded as a quantité négligeable.

However, having a close look into the history of economic thought, Karl Marx predicted in his major work ''Das Kapital, Zur Kritik der politischen Ökonomie" or "The Capital" (1859) an increasing concentration and centralisation of capital. He forecast the imminent force of large companies to extend their operations more and more to the detriment of smaller companies by various means of competitive measures. The size of the fum or economic unit of production will increase correspondingly (concentration), the redistribution of already existing capital in a manner that places its ownership in fewer and fewer hands will increase likewise (centralisation), and the degree of competition in the market tends to be diminished (Landreth & Colander 2002, 211).