Value theory and pricing

The question of the determinants of value and price has always been one of the most fundamental problems for the economy. There are two basic questions: ۱-What value depends on? (To the essence of the objective, or subjective factors such as production cost and amount of working hours, or both of subjective and objective factors. ۲-What is the relationship between value and market price?The historical evolutions of value theory indicates that at first in the Aristotelian and Scholastic tradition (subsistence economic), subjective factors such as needwere emphasized as the main determinants of value. In the following, with gradual formation of the modern exchange economy (commodity production with the aim of achieving the profit) labor theory of value emerged among the classical economists and Marx, which emphasizes the objective such as amount of working hours as a source of value. Finally by the Marginalism revolution and mastery of quantitative mathematical approach and neutral positivist value attitude, the value problem was dissolved and the price theory was considered instead. Marginalists believe that market price both reflects the subjective valuation of demanders and is equal to the cost of production. Therefore, according to any value theory, value is equal to market price, and therefore the issue of value is not important. Due to the dominance of the marginalist approach to mainstream economics, price theory and pricing are now considered without reference to the historical issue of value, and in fact the "value issue" has been reduced to the "price issue". In contrast to the mainstream, some Heterodoxy approaches, such as the Marxist and Neoricardian approaches, seek to redefine the question of value.

کلیدواژه ها:

Value theory ، Price theory ، Market ، Marginalism ، Heterodoxy approaches