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Posted by L. D. Garland on January 10, 19104 at 16:55:31:
In Reply to: Re: Labor Theory of Value finished? posted by Jared on August 12, 19103 at 20:00:53:
>>Are you referring to this labor theory of value?: The value of any commodity...to the person who possesses it, and who means not to use or consume it himself, but to exchange it for other commodities, is equal to the quantity of labour which it enables him to purchase or command.<<
No. I'm thinking of the Marxist theory which puts the value as the quantity of labor needed to produce the commodity.
The flaw in the theory is that it does not account for a commodity which required a large input of labor to produce it, but for which there is so little demand that it cannot fetch a price in the market anywhere close enough to pay for that labor input.
Thus, the labor input is irrelevant, and the true measure of the value of the commodity is the degree of demand for and supply of the commodity. A supply and demand measure explains how any price in the market is arrived at. While the labor theory leaves out of account a commodity for which there is low demand but which required a large labor input for its production.
A genuine theory of value should account for ALL values in the marketplace.
More extended argument at www.LaborTheoryofValue.com