These two products first appeared in a story told by Adam Smith more than 200 years ago. Smith used them to explain something. What is that something? I denote it momentarily by p*. I use a symbol, rather than a name, for names are misleading. Even Smith was misled, for he could not decide to call it value-in-use or value-in-exchange. Below are other misleading names or theories around p*.

Is p* is a price or a cost? Can we determine p* from some cost, or vice versa? Can we exploit some labor to raise p*, or suppress labor cost from a given p*? Can we infer p* from some demand, or supply function? Can a p* be used to determine quantity demanded and quantity supplied, or vice versa? Can a single p* be applied to everyone, so that even young and old are protected from being cheated? Can we control, predict or dictate future p*? Can we make it lower to benefit everyone in a rich country, or to help those thirsty souls in case of a drought? Can we make it higher to support those productive farmers, when a good harvest presses down their p*? Can we group individual demands together to bargain for a lower p*, or individual supplies together for a higher one? Can we unite individual demands together to fight a monopolist, or individual supplies together to fight a monopsonist? Is there a market p*? What is market? Does money, foreign exchange or a common stock have a p*?

This book attempts to answer all these questions.