kaupmætti

Kaupmætti is an Icelandic term used in economic and everyday language to denote the capacity to engage in trade and commerce. The word blends kaupa, meaning to buy, with mætti, meaning ability, and thus covers related ideas in both individual and collective contexts. In a narrow sense, kaupmætti describes a person’s or household’s ability to purchase goods and services given prices and income, similar to what is called purchasing power in other languages. In a broader sense, it can refer to the market’s or economy’s overall capacity to support exchange, production, and distribution, or to a currency’s ability to acquire goods.

In practice, discussions of kaupmætti differentiate between microeconomic and macroeconomic perspectives. Microeconomically, a person’s kaupmætti depends on income, wealth, access to credit, and information. Macroeconomically, it relates to aggregate demand, price levels, and the relationship between money supply and prices that determines the economy’s overall purchasing capacity.

Historically, the concept has appeared in Icelandic sources to describe market vitality, merchant networks, and regional trade capacity. While kaupmætti is closely related to kaupmáttur (purchasing power), the terms emphasize different aspects: kaupmætti focuses on capacity to trade and engage in commerce, whereas kaupmáttur highlights the value or buying power of money.

Related terms include kaupmáttur (purchasing power) and kaupmennska (mercantile activity or trade).