History and criticism of the labor theory of value in English political economyWhitaker, Albert C. (Albert Conser)
History
History and criticism of the labor theory of value in English political economy
Whitaker, Albert C. (Albert Conser)
Economics -- Great Britain -- History; Labor theory of value -- Great Britain -- History
the sum of its uses to him. The value of the piano measures the total
amount of satisfaction _conditioned_ upon its possession. When goods
are used in stocks any one unit _conditions_ only the satisfaction had
from the last unit. Thus only does _marginal_ utility—the actual total
utility of the marginal increment—determine value. It is quite futile to
attempt to distinguish between the different uses of a unit commodity and
arrange these in a descending scale and choose a marginal use. When the
unit is taken away all these uses would be sacrificed. Professor Dietzel,
an undiscerning critic and imitator combined of the Austrians, has
stated that it is the “highest use,” the use on the upper margin, which
determines the value of a unit commodity.[225]
A second method of discovering a marginal utility for a piano is to
conceive of the utility of a piano to that possessor who has just been
able to afford the price as the marginal utility of pianos. All men
pay the same price for a given grade of piano, but the rich men have
much higher price equivalents than the poor. If the supply of pianos
to be sold in a given social market be increased, the price will fall.
This fall is interpreted as being caused by a decline in the “marginal
utility” of pianos. There is no justification for this logic in the
utility theory. It is not possible to compare the satisfactions had from
pianos by different persons. It is not possible to imagine the pianos in
society arranged in a series, the pianos of highest utility being those
held by the persons who could afford to pay most and so on. The price
of a piano depends upon the _marginal price equivalent_ of a piano, but
neither the exchange value nor the esteem value of a piano depends upon
_marginal_ utility.
To conclude, all goods derive their exchange values from the esteem
values placed upon them by consumers. The exchange value of a good in
money is determined in a marginal manner by the price equivalents set
upon the good by the consumers. Since the extent of a consumer’s money
income helps determine the price equivalents placed upon all articles by
him, it is impossible to show that these price equivalents depend solely
upon esteem values. But it is still proper to say that the esteem value
of a good is the sole source of its exchange value. A consumer will
assign no price equivalent to a good unless it possess esteem value,
and when he does assign a price equivalent, it will be precisely in
proportion to the esteem value of the good as compared with other goods
which he values.
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