5 ms·
This book is in my to read list for some time. I believe it touches the kernel of the problem about economy as a field. The definition of Value. A good book and
by neves 6y ago
This book is in my to read list for some time. I believe it touches the kernel of the problem about economy as a field. The definition of Value. A good book and easy to read book that touches in this subject is Yanis Varoufakis's excellent "Talking to My Daughter about the Economy: A Brief History of Capitalism"
- WalterBright 6y agoValue (in the economic sense) is where the supply & demand curves intersect. There is no such thing as "intrinsic" or "true" value.
- Gibbon1 6y agoEconomists rejects the idea of intrinsic and true value. Because economists don't know how to quantify it as a scalar.
- 6510 6y agoIt seems silly perhaps but for true value I have a kind of thought experiment: If we took everything away from you what would you want the most? Breathable oxygen is nice to have. Second? Probably water. 3rd probably a comfortable enough place to sleep. 4th would be some kind of food. Here it gets less obvious but opinions shouldn't vary to much. 5th at least some cloths? 6th a roof over your head? (depends on the climate ofc) 7th someone to talk with? 8th a partner perhaps? 9th a decent pair of shoes? If we don't look at things that way we might think that there is so much air and so much clean drinking water that it doesn't have value. You can just keep taking it in unlimited amounts until it gets scarce enough to create a market for it self. At that point we might argue the economy is growing. We also love to tell [mainly ourselves] comforting stories about well being that exclude those who are not doing well. I mean, your life isn't all that valuable to me is it? If I can have shoes and you would have to go without air it would be hard to turn down the shoes? Economically shoes are a great idea?