The market as a distributive and allocative system: its legal, ethical, and analytical evolution

The economic market has developed over history, and its distributive and allocative functions may be less relevant in modern times. The concept of higgling has been taken from the bargaining process of personal buying and selling in ancient marketplaces, and adopted into theory as a function of modern markets. Ancient Greeks, Romans, and 18th and 17th century English had legal and ethical standards of higgling. However, higgling may not have broader market importance today.