The market value of a commodity is revealed in the eventual consumption of it as a value in use. So the value of an economic good is found in the effects of its productive consumption mediated by the market. Its value is high because a lot is achieved through its services: as bigger is the value in use of a good as bigger is the market value of it. The usefulness of the last bit of a commodity conveys the market value of that commodity.
Historical Backdrop
• ARISTOTLE Nicomachean Ethics: the value is accessed by the receiver.
• LUIS DE MOLINA On Justice and Law: ability to serve human utility.
• JOHANN GOTTLIEB FICHTE The Closed Commercial State: intrinsic value.
• HERMANN GOSSEN The Development of the Laws of Human Intercourse and the Consequent Rules of Human Action: the theory of pleasure.
• WILLIAM JEVONS The Theory of Political Economy: value is the final degree of utility of the quantity of commodity available for consumption.
• JOHN BATES CLARK The Philosophy of Wealth: value is a measure of utility.