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In a market system individual economic units are free to interact among each other in the marketplace. It is possible to buy goods from other economic units or sell goods to them. In a market, transactions may take place through barter or money exchange. In a barter economy, real goods such as automobiles, shoes, and rice are traded against each other. Obviously, finding somebody who wants to trade my old car in exchange for a sail-boat may not always be an easy task. Hence, the introduction of money as a medium of exchange eases transactions considerably. In the modern market economy ? goods and services are bought or sold for money.

An alternative to the market system is administrative control by some agency over all transactions. This agency will issue commands as to how much of each goods and service should be produced, and consumed by each economic unit. Central planning may be one way of running such an economy. The central plan, drawn up by the government, shows the amounts of each goods produced by the various firms and shared among different households for consumption. This is an example of complete planning of production, consumption, and exchange for the whole economy.

In a traditional society, production and consumption patterns are governed by tradition; every persons place within the economic system is fixed by fatherhood or motherhood, religion, and custom. Transactions take place on the basis of tradition, too.