Requirements for Electronic Markets Architecture

INTRODUCTION Markets are media, that allow the exchange of goods and values between supplier and customer, and of related information. The transaction partners are autonomous: They decide with whom they want to interact and whether they want to sell or buy. So far, markets are passive media. But they provide the business partners with several kinds of (mostly aggregate) information on prices (exchange ratios), transaction volumes , etc., and time series of such quantities. It is this information layer which gives markets evolutionary power: As economic theory postulates, they lead (under certain conditions) to Pareto-optimal equilibrium. Moreover, in a Danvinean optic, they have a selective function, rewarding superior producers with Faster growth.