定义价格(The Definition of Price )

pricesdeterminehowresourcesaretobeused.theyarealsothemeansbywhichproductsandservicesthatareinlimitedsupplyarerationedamongbuyers.thepricesystemoftheunitedstatesisacomplexnetworkcomposedofthepricesofalltheproductsboughtandsoldintheeconomyaswellasthoseofamyriadofservices,includinglabor,professional,transportation,andpublic-utilityservices.theinterrelationshipsofallthesepricesmakeupthe"system"ofprices.thepriceofanyparticularproductorserviceislinkedtoabroad,complicatedsystemofpricesinwhicheverythingseemstodependmoreorlessuponeverythingelse.ifoneweretoaskagroupofrandomlyselectedindividualstodefine"price",manywouldreplythatpriceisanamountofmoneypaidbythebuyertothesellerofaproductorserviceor,inotherwordsthatpriceisthemoneyvaluesofaproductorserviceasagreeduponinamarkettransaction.thisdefinitionis,ofcourse,validasfarasitgoes.

foracompleteunderstandingofapriceinanyparticulartransaction,muchmorethantheamountofmoneyinvolvedmustbeknown.boththebuyerandthesellershouldbefamiliarwithnotonlythemoneyamount,butwiththeamountandqualityoftheproductorservicetobeexchanged,thetimeandplaceatwhichtheexchangewilltakeplaceandpaymentwillbemade,theformofmoneytobeused,thecredittermsanddiscountsthatapplytothetransaction,guaranteesontheproductorservice,deliveryterms,returnprivileges,andotherfactors.inotherwords,bothbuyerandsellershouldbefullyawareofallthefactorsthatcomprisethetotal"package"beingexchangedfortheasked-foramountofmoneyinorderthattheymayevaluateagivenprice.