英语翻译
03TheDefinitionof“Price”
Pricesdeterminehowresourcesaretobeused.Theyarealsothemeansbywhichproductsandservicesthatareinlimitedsupplyarerationedamongbuyers.ThepricesystemoftheUnitedStatesisacomplexnetworkcomposedofthepricesofalltheproductsboughtandsoldintheeconomyaswellasthoseofamyriadofservices,includinglabor,professional,transportation,andpublic-utilityservices.Theinterrelationshipsofallthesepricesmakeupthe“system”ofprices.Thepriceofanyparticularproductorserviceislinkedtoabroad,complicatedsystemofpricesinwhicheverythingseemstodependmoreorlessuponeverythingelse.
Ifoneweretoaskagroupofrandomlyselectedindividualstodefine“price”,manywouldreplythatpriceisanamountofmoneypaidbythebuyertothesellerofaproductorserviceor,inotherwordsthatpriceisthemoneyvaluesofaproductorserviceasagreeduponinamarkettransaction.Thisdefinitionis,ofcourse,validasfarasitgoes.Foracompleteunderstandingofapriceinanyparticulartransaction,muchmorethantheamountofmoneyinvolvedmustbeknown.Boththebuyerandthesellershouldbefamiliarwithnotonlythemoneyamount,butwiththeamountandqualityoftheproductorservicetobeexchanged,thetimeandplaceatwhichtheexchangewilltakeplaceandpaymentwillbemade,theformofmoneytobeused,thecredittermsanddiscountsthatapplytothetransaction,guaranteesontheproductorservice,deliveryterms,returnprivileges,andotherfactors.Inotherwords,bothbuyerandsellershouldbefullyawareofallthefactorsthatcomprisethetotal“package”beingexchangedfortheasked-foramountofmoneyinorderthattheymayevaluateagivenprice.