# Market Access Cost Structure

## Definition

The composition of costs associated with accessing markets, including transportation expenses, security costs, infrastructure maintenance, and time delays. Market access cost structure determines which goods can be profitably traded and over what distances.

## Source Chapter

Book I, Chapter 3

## Context

Smith provides detailed analysis of market access cost structure by comparing the costs of water-carriage (maintenance of six or eight men and a ship) versus land-carriage (maintenance of a hundred men, four hundred horses, and fifty waggons), showing how cost structure affects market feasibility.

## Economic Domain

Exchange

---