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The role of markets in the system of abundance

By Brendan Sheehan


PKES Working Paper 0901

January 2009
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There are a variety of drivers and constraints on consumption spending by the people of plenty in the system of abundance. The institution of marketing works to amplify the drivers of spending and relax the constraints. This has profound implications for the way that markets work in the system of abundance, This paper introduces the new concept of corporate-guided markets for branded products. This is the general market form in the system of abundance. This idea builds upon the key insights of J.K. Galbraith with respect to the existence of managed markets, but seeks to develop and refine his analysis correcting its most obvious limitations. Galbraith in turn breaks free for the mainstream frame of reference of the simple market mechanism based on the workings of the invisible hand. However the simple market mechanism, revised to take account of Keynes’ idea of shifting equibria, has some limited applications in a system of abundance.

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