Q1.
Can you think of other products which do not have a ready market?
Answer
Aakriti paints in oils on canvas. Her work is admired, but “unlike the case of guavas, there are fewer local buyers and sellers for artwork”. Several other goods and services are in the same position.
| Product or service | Why there is no ready market |
|---|---|
| Paintings, sculpture, art photography | Every piece is one of a kind, so there is no going price to compare with |
| Handmade crafts — Madhubani painting, bamboo work, Channapatna toys, tribal jewellery | Buyers are far away in cities and abroad; the artisan's village has few of them |
| Handloom sarees and traditional textiles | Compete with cheap mill cloth; buyers who value them are scattered |
| Classical music, dance and theatre performances | Audiences are small and occasional |
| A second-hand house, a family's old farmland | Very few buyers, and each property is unique |
| Rare books, manuscripts, antiques, coins | Only a handful of collectors want them |
| Highly specialised skills — a Sanskrit manuscript reader, a temple-chariot carpenter | Very few employers need that skill in any one place |
| Custom-built machinery | Made for one customer; nobody else can use it |
Why it happens: a market forms easily when many buyers want the same thing and many sellers offer it — guavas, rice, soap. When each item is unique and buyers are few and scattered, no common price ever appears, and buyer and seller struggle even to find each other.