> I believe German's word "Supermarkt" is the same as English's
> supermarket. (Which are both in contrast to the mom & pop store, or
> "Tante-Emma-Laden.")
Ja, genau.
> So I expect you're fully aware what I mean by this analogy;
I barely speak German, actually.
[...]
> Assuming you're being halfway serious,
Yes, am being serious. I am not sure why you think otherwise.
> people frequently build institutions to decrease burdens, increase efficiency, etc.
> So I made an analogy to today's supermarkets.
Yes, but what is the logic of the analogy?
The question of allocation of productive factors towards the fulfillment of consumer preference is not a question of where you go to buy them.
A market system, like that which is a supermarket is part of the chain of, depends on price feedback to allocate productive factors.
The relevant feature of both a supermarkt and a tante-emma-laden is that
the items have a price. And the important part about that is that it is consumer demand relative to supply that establishes price at the point of encounter.
What is the role of a parecon-supermarket? Other than to provide shelves?
-- Dmytri Kleiner, robotnik Telekommunisten, Berlin.
dk at telekommunisten.net http://www.telekommunisten.net freenode/#telnik