ABSTRACT
Durham Cathedral soars above the centre of the old British market town as it has done for almost a thousand years. But just down the road from the Norman cathedral and the castle that defends it, a new coffee shop has recently opened. Amongst the cluster of shops and stalls which crowd Durham’s market place, this newcomer has now opened its doors to tempt the passer-by with the pungent aroma of fresh-roasted coffee. (At least it has at the time of writing. By the time you read this yet another entrepreneur may well have taken over the business and be displaying fashion wear or computer games or some other such service, which attracts the buying public!)
There are few places on Earth that are not touched by the continual changes of market organisation. Humankind is a restless species and is always seeking out new and better ways to produce things, more and different goods and services to acquire. But by what mechanism is it decided what is produced where, and by whom? How is the organisation of society’s economic affairs carried out?
