| This question <146|432> overall <150|158> Hans: <137|165>. |
| Question 215: Which characteristics of value are expressed better in the Expanded form of value than in the Simple form, and what are the defects of the Expanded form? |
| [157] Hans: Value does not come from scarcity. Billybob writes in [145]: |
| If beans were more easily harvested in certain parts of the world they would hold less value to the rice in that part of the world because there would be an abundance of that product. |
| The first half of the sentence is right, as far as the labor theory of value is concerned: if beans are more easily harvested than rice they hold less value than the rice. That is a sufficient reason, abundance does not enter the equation. Maybe it is a society which does not like beans and very few people eat beans. Then very few beans will be grown. Beans will still be cheaper than rice, but there will be no abundance of them. |
| Jazz: I want to hear more about this; is it because of the demand? |
| Hans: No, Jazz, it is exactly not because of demand. Think of it this way: in the labor theory of value, prices are determined by the supply side and quantities by the demand side. |
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