An introduction to the theory of value : $b On the lines of Menger, Weiser, and Böhm-BawerkSmart, William
General
An introduction to the theory of value : $b On the lines of Menger, Weiser, and Böhm-Bawerk
Smart, William
Austrian school of economics; Value
[3] For instance—to say nothing of the fact that all economic ends
must be subjective—of the four ways indicated above in which Wellbeing
may be conceived, the three first may be considered objective as
compared with the subjective fourth, while the wellbeing of man
generally—particularly the ideal good—may very well be called the
only objective end in contrast to the accident of a technical result.
But, as it is impossible to keep the economic vocabulary clear of the
philosophical, we may be satisfied if these names are definite enough
to keep before our minds the broad lines of the division indicated
above.
Value, in the subjective sense, we may call, generally, the importance
which a good is considered to possess with reference to the wellbeing
of a person. In this sense, a good is valuable to me when I consider
that my wellbeing is associated with or dependent on the possession of
it—that it “avails” towards my wellbeing.
Value, in the objective sense, is a relation of power or capacity
between a good and an objective result. In this sense, a good has value
when it has the power of producing—or “avails” towards—some objective
effect. There are, consequently, as many objective values as there are
objective effects. Thus while the subjective value of coal to me is
the amount of “good” I get from the fire, its objective value is the
temperature which it maintains in the room, or the amount of steam
it can raise in the boiler, or the money it brings me if I sell it.
This kind of value is very much synonymous with the word “power” or
“capacity”; it is as common to speak of “heating power” as of “heating
value.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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