| This question <81|81> overall <79|82> TooMuch: <635|211-54>. graded A |
| Question 127: If a commodity is only produced because of its value, why did Marx not say that commodities come to the world in the form of values? |
| [81] TooMuch: commodity value born as use-value. A producer only produces a commodity because of the value of that commodity to the producer, not the use-value to the consumer. However, Marx says that the commodity is born as a use-value. The reason for this is because Marx recognizes that the producer would not be getting any “value” from the commodity if it did not have any use-value for the consumer and therefore not be producing that commodity. Producers understand that they will get their values from commodities where there is a demand for use. I feel that Marx is saying that products come into the world as a use-value (e.g. Iron, Linen, Corn, etc.) and that they grow up to be values for producers. Use-value of a commodity is logically determined in advance of the value. The value cannot be determined without knowing that there is some use-value. |
| When a commodity is first born, the producer may only have a limited idea of what the use-value of that commodity will be and if that commodity will have enough exchange-value to have value for the producer. It is not until after the product is born, after it has use-value and it placed on the market that the true value of that commodity can be determined by/for the producer. It may be the case that the commodity has many suitable alternatives and that the exchange value is not high enough to justify production. Or it could be that the consumer does not feel that exchange value of the commodity is worth the use-value. However, it is entirely possible that the consumer recognizes that the use-value of that commodity is very high and that they will impose a high exchange-value on that product allowing the commodity to have value for the producer. |
| Hans: Addendum to your last sentence: But if the exchange-value of the commodity is very high, then other producers will try to supply similar commodities, so that in the long run exchange-values are proportional to labor content. Otherwise this is a very good answer. |
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