주관적 가치 이론

다음 시리즈의 일부
오스트리아의 학교
주업무 자본과 이자 휴먼 액션 개인주의와 경제질서 인간, 경제, 국가 경제학 원리
오리진스 살라망카의 학교 고전경제학 프랑스 자유주의 학교 메소덴스트레이트
이론과 이념 오스트리아의 경기 순환 카탈락틱스 창조적 파괴 경제계산문제 인플레이션의 관점 우자유주의 미국의 자유주의 말투자 한계주의 방법론적 개인주의 프락시로지 원형 교차로 자연순서 주관적 가치 이론 관심 이론
단체들 카토 연구소 경제교육재단 조지 메이슨 대학교 인디펜던트 인스티튜트 리버티 펀드 미세스 연구소 재산자유사회 이유재단
사람 외젠 밥 폰 바웨르크 월터 블록 피터 보엣케 토머스 디로렌조 프랭크 페터 로저 게리슨 프리드리히 하이에크 헨리 해즐릿 로버트 힉스 한스 헤르만 호페 스티븐 호비츠 요르그 귀도 흐를스만 제수스 후에르타 데 소토 이스라엘 키르즈너 루트비히 라흐만 돈 라부이 피터 리슨 프리츠 마클루프 칼 멩거 루트비히 폰 미제스 로버트 머피 윌리엄 H. 피터슨 머레이 로스바드 조지프 살레르노 마크 스쿠센 프리드리히 폰 비제르 리처드 리터 폰 스트리글 고트프리드 하벨러 오스카르 모겐스턴
변형 및 관련 항목 아나르코자본주의 경제적 자유 자본주의에 대한 관점
비즈니스 및 경제 포털
v t

주관적 가치 이론은 재화의 가치는 어떤 본질적인 재산에 의해서도 결정되지 않고, 그것을 생산하는 데 필요한 노동의 양에 의해서 결정되는 것이 아니라, 행위하는 개인이 자신의 소기의 목적을 달성하기 위해 재화에 두는 중요성에 의해서 결정된다는 생각을 진전시키는 경제 이론이다.^[1]

이 이론의 현대판은 19세기 후반 윌리엄 스탠리 제본스, 레온 왈라스, 칼 멩거에 의해 독립적으로 거의 동시에 만들어졌다.^[2]

Overview

According to the subjective theory of value, by assuming that all trades between individuals are voluntary, it can be concluded that both parties to the trade subjectively perceive the goods, labour or money they receive, as being of higher value to the goods, labour or money they give away. The theory holds that one can create value simply by trading with someone who values the items higher, without necessarily modifying those. Wealth is understood to refer to individuals' subjective valuation of their possessions, and voluntary trades may increase the total wealth in society.^[3]

Individuals will tend to obtain diminishing levels of satisfaction, or marginal utility from acquiring additional units of a good. They will initially prioritise obtaining the goods they most need (of central, not marginal utility), such as essential food, but once their need for it is satisfied up to a certain level, their desire for other goods will start to assume more relative importance, and they will seek to bring satisfaction of their need for feeding into satisfaction of their need for other goods.^[4]

Proponents of the theory also believe that in a free market, competition between individuals seeking to trade goods they possess and services they can provide for goods they perceive as being of higher value to them results in a market equilibrium set of prices emerging.

Classical economists such as David Ricardo believed that individual people obtain different levels of utility or 'value in use' from a service, but did not effectively connect those with market prices, or 'value in exchange', seeing them as separately derived from the quantity of labour input and other production factors.^[2]

Carl Menger argued that production was simply another case of the theory of marginal utility,^[2] and that labourers' wage-earning potential is set by the value of their work to others rather than subsistence costs, and they work because they value remuneration more highly than inactivity.^[5]

It has to be noted that the amount of labour needed to manufacture goods can indirectly affect their prices, since it can make them more or less scarce.

Diamond-water paradox

The development of the subjective theory of value was partly motivated by the need to solve the value-paradox which had puzzled many^[who?] classical economists. This paradox, also referred to descriptively as the diamond-water paradox, arose when value was attributed to things such as the amount of labor that went into the production of a good or alternatively to an objective measure of the usefulness of a good. The theory that it was the amount of labor that went into producing a good that determined its value proved equally futile because someone could stumble upon the discovery of a diamond while out for a hike, for example, which would require minimal labor, but yet the diamond could still be valued higher than water.^{[citation needed]}

The subjective theory of value presents what it sees as a solution to this paradox by arguing that value is not determined by individuals choosing among entire abstract classes of goods, such as all the water in the world versus all the diamonds in the world. Rather, an acting individual is faced with the choice between definite quantities of goods, and the choice made by such an actor is determined by which good of a specified quantity will satisfy the individual's highest subjectively ranked preference, or most desired end.^[6] Water is very abundant, therefore its marginal utility is not that high, despite its important function in keeping organisms alive.

See also

• Marginalism, the theory of marginal value
• Intrinsic theory of value
• Labour theory of value
• Power theory of value
• Behavioral economics
• Expected utility hypothesis

References