What Is an Aggregate Market?

Economists and analysts need methods to examine large-scale models that take into account not only a particular industry, but an entire market. Specifically, an entire economy of a particular nation. This makes it easy to judge differences globally and chart the progress of an economy throughout the years. Figures like GDP can help in these calculations, but more in-depth studies also are needed. An aggregate market is a good example of a study that analysts use to judge the condition of a nation and how its markets are performing as a whole.

An aggregate market s a model that shows the price levels in a country and the levels of production. In other words, it examines supply and demand from a macro level. The model was created in the 1970s, when a more general and flexible study of nations was needed to create accurate growth predictions and predict sudden changes, like severe inflation or rapid unemployment. The aggregate market is made of two distinct parts: the aggregate demand and the aggregate supply.

Aggregate demand is made out of four macroeconomic parts: household, business, government and foreign. Household demands include most private consumption and the individual demand for a variety of services, including things like insurance and debt. Business demand relates to the needs for supplies and services that businesses use in their own operations, and government demand is similar but focused on the public sector. Foreign demand refers primarily to exports that profit businesses within the nation.

Aggregate supply is a measurement of real production, or how many goods are actually being produced to meet the demand. This is typically divided into long-run and short-run examinations. The long run look shows how many goods are being produced from the perspective of years, while the short run shows how supply has spiked or fallen within a much shorter framework, typically only one year. Together they show a useful picture of the nation's supply growth.

The purpose of aggregate market studies is to compare the aggregate demand and supply. In a perfect system the two would be in equilibrium. In other words, all real production would exactly meet the demand in the four sectors. But equilibrium is never reached in a constantly changing system, although economies that are close to equilibrium tend to be the most stable and most successful. A retreat from equilibrium typically indicates a macroeconomic problem.