Comments on the concepts of “economic value” and “labour value”
Man’s economic activity may be examined from two points of view. One can either consider the essential economic fact, which consists in the choice forced upon man by the circumstance that the means for the satisfaction of needs are in scarce supply and have alternative uses; or one can consider the social relationships which are established among men by virtue of their economic activity. The first point of view leads to the concept of “economic value” as the primary category of scientific enquiry; this can be defined as the “coefficient of choice” and reflects the technical conditions and the pattern of preferences within which the economic process comes to pass. The general equilibrium theory is the most accomplished definition to date of the concept of economic value. The second point of view leads to the concept of “labour value” as the primary category of a scientific enquiry designed to examine the capitalist economy. The justification of this concept lies in the circumstance that a pure capitalist economy (that means, in essence, such as defined and described by classical theory and by Marx) tends by its own nature towards reducing to zero the cost of saving and the cost of the natural resources entering into the productive process.
In so far as the category of labour value refers to a fundamental feature of contemporary reality, it is essential for historical appreciation. On the other hand, the economic system which is known by the name of capitalism always displayed, and continues to display, a whole series of elements which are alien to “pure capitalist economy”. Th latter has thereby been modified, and continues to be modified, into a much more complicated system, which we have hardly begun to study and deeper knowledge of which requires much further research. The distinction between economic value and labour value proves to be exceedingly fruitful for any study of socialist planning such as we have so far experienced.
