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The value is no higher at the airport than anywhere else. The difference is who is able to capture the surplus value. At the airport, the vendor captures most

The value is no higher at the airport than anywhere else. The difference is who is able to capture the surplus value. At the airport, the vendor captures most of the surplus value due to their monopoly. Elsewhere, the consumer captures a lot of the surplus value due to robust competition between different vendors.

medvezhenok 4y ago
That’s stretching the definition of value a bit. Value is certainly situational - you wouldn’t say that someone selling the last parachute on a plane that’s falling is « capturing the true value of the parachute » - or someone selling a bottle of water to someone dying of dehydration in the desert is capturing the true value of the water
- TheCoelacanth 4y ago
  I believe I'm using value[1] in the standard economic way as "measure of the benefit provided by a good or service to an economic agent" often framed as "what is the maximum amount of money a specific actor is willing and able to pay for the good or service?". It's not the same as market price or market value. Market price is what you actually pay, value is the maximum you would hypothetically pay. The difference between the two is the "consumer surplus"[2]. It is situational, but I don't think it varies much in this scenario. You aren't any hungrier inside the airport than you are outside. If food was equally scarce in both locations, you would pay the same amount. The value is the same in both locations, but the price is higher in the airport. That means consumer surplus is higher outside the airport. The cost to the producer is also roughly the same, so the producer surplus is higher in the airport. The producer has used their monopoly position to take a larger portion of the economic surplus inside the airport. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Value_(economics) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Value_(economics) [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economic_surplus https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economic_surplus
  - ska 4y ago
    > but I don't think it varies much in this scenario. You aren't any hungrier inside the airport than you are outside. I think the poster was claiming that in fact the value is not the same. You aren't hungrier, but you are typically more tired, more rushed, and focused on bigger problems than what to eat for lunch, etc. It's a reasonable argument. That doesn't mean it's thing going on.
- yibg 4y ago
  That’s why there are price gouging laws in place.
Der_Einzige 4y ago
My god the fact that people here argue for the LTV is sad. Literally every bit of theoretical marxism, including the Labor Theory of Value, the "absolute general law of capital accumulation", the "tendency for the rate of profit to fall", and the entire set of predictions around "dialectical materialism" are all debunked by more than a hundred years of history. Can we drop it now, or do we have to be enamored by his fashionable nonsense for another hundred years?
- kelipso 4y ago
  More like a hundred years of obvious capitalist propaganda. Marxist theory is taught in normal economics courses in China, a country projected to be the largest economy by the end of this decade, largest economy by GDP PPP, largest number of people who escaped poverty in the last x decades, etc etc. Argue it's because of capitalism sure but LTV or Marxist theory are not "debunked" lol.
  - robocat 4y ago
    What is taught in school and what people learn are often vastly different, in any culture. In Shenzhen every single person seemed to be running a business, and it felt like one of the most truly capitalist places I have ever been. In New Zealand people are dependent on their government, and few people try to run their own business. You don’t need to risk much in New Zealand, so most people don’t.
- robocat 4y ago
  Consumer Surplus and Surplus Value have their similarities. Flaming someone for using some words that appear to trigger you is unproductive. Maybe give them the benefit of the doubt, especially since their last sentence seems to argue for capitalism. https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Economic_surplus#Consumer_surplus https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Economic_surplus#Consumer_surplus https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Surplus_value https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Surplus_value Perhaps review: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

medvezhenok 4y ago

That’s stretching the definition of value a bit. Value is certainly situational - you wouldn’t say that someone selling the last parachute on a plane that’s falling is « capturing the true value of the parachute » - or someone selling a bottle of water to someone dying of dehydration in the desert is capturing the true value of the water

TheCoelacanth 4y ago
I believe I'm using value[1] in the standard economic way as "measure of the benefit provided by a good or service to an economic agent" often framed as "what is the maximum amount of money a specific actor is willing and able to pay for the good or service?". It's not the same as market price or market value. Market price is what you actually pay, value is the maximum you would hypothetically pay. The difference between the two is the "consumer surplus"[2]. It is situational, but I don't think it varies much in this scenario. You aren't any hungrier inside the airport than you are outside. If food was equally scarce in both locations, you would pay the same amount. The value is the same in both locations, but the price is higher in the airport. That means consumer surplus is higher outside the airport. The cost to the producer is also roughly the same, so the producer surplus is higher in the airport. The producer has used their monopoly position to take a larger portion of the economic surplus inside the airport. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Value_(economics) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Value_(economics) [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economic_surplus https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economic_surplus
- ska 4y ago
  > but I don't think it varies much in this scenario. You aren't any hungrier inside the airport than you are outside. I think the poster was claiming that in fact the value is not the same. You aren't hungrier, but you are typically more tired, more rushed, and focused on bigger problems than what to eat for lunch, etc. It's a reasonable argument. That doesn't mean it's thing going on.
yibg 4y ago
That’s why there are price gouging laws in place.

Der_Einzige 4y ago

My god the fact that people here argue for the LTV is sad. Literally every bit of theoretical marxism, including the Labor Theory of Value, the "absolute general law of capital accumulation", the "tendency for the rate of profit to fall", and the entire set of predictions around "dialectical materialism" are all debunked by more than a hundred years of history. Can we drop it now, or do we have to be enamored by his fashionable nonsense for another hundred years?

kelipso 4y ago
More like a hundred years of obvious capitalist propaganda. Marxist theory is taught in normal economics courses in China, a country projected to be the largest economy by the end of this decade, largest economy by GDP PPP, largest number of people who escaped poverty in the last x decades, etc etc. Argue it's because of capitalism sure but LTV or Marxist theory are not "debunked" lol.
- robocat 4y ago
  What is taught in school and what people learn are often vastly different, in any culture. In Shenzhen every single person seemed to be running a business, and it felt like one of the most truly capitalist places I have ever been. In New Zealand people are dependent on their government, and few people try to run their own business. You don’t need to risk much in New Zealand, so most people don’t.
robocat 4y ago
Consumer Surplus and Surplus Value have their similarities. Flaming someone for using some words that appear to trigger you is unproductive. Maybe give them the benefit of the doubt, especially since their last sentence seems to argue for capitalism. https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Economic_surplus#Consumer_surplus https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Economic_surplus#Consumer_surplus https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Surplus_value https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Surplus_value Perhaps review: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html