~ ILPV-WWLCTLIPAM?-IFDNCV-HDTBSR? ~ If Labour Produced Value – Why Was Labour Continuing To Live In Poverty And Misery? – If Financiers Did Not Create Value – How Did They Become So Rich?

~ TLTOVDWN-TEOANSOITITEAT-VWNIOCOP-T-CE-LTCTAND-TN ~ The Labour Theory Of Value’s Days Were Numbered – The Emergence Of A New Set Of Ideas That Inverted The Earlier Argument That – Value Was Nested In Objective Conditions Of Production – The – Classical Economists – Lost Their Crown To A New Dynasty – The Neoclassicals

~ T-MUTOV-STAIIRFAPU ~ The – Marginal Utility Theory Of Value – States That All Income Is Reward For A Productive Undertaking

~ TMCIAT-S-O-GAA-WBM-PB-MAM-TNAMVOP-LT-COCB-BTFATSC-B-LOUFSB-TCO-IU-WHTIW-NAGOB-B-HCGCBRTEITTMTBTHOH ~ The Medieval Church Inveighed Against The – Sin – Of – Greed And Avarice – Which Broadly Meant – Profiteering By – Middlemen And Moneylenders – This Normative And Moral View Of Price – Linked To – Cheating Or Criminal Behaviour – Began To Fade After The Seventeenth Century – But – Lingered On Until Firmly Supplanted By – The Concept Of – Individual Utility – Which Held That It Was – Not About Good Or Bad – But – How Common Goals Could Be Reached Through Each Individual Trying To Maximize The Benefit To His- Or Herself

~ TN-VT-M-IBOTNO-UAS-AI-S:TVOTIMBTUTTC-TI-T-N-‘O’-SOV-SUMVBIAADT-TUDATAOATTIHOCI-P-TR-T-U-T-BGFT-TSTA-THT-MU-TMCWBWTPFT ~ The – New – Value Theory – Marginalism – It Is Based On The Notions Of – Utility And Scarcity – And Is – Subjective: The Value Of Things Is Measured By Their Usefulness To The Consumer – There Is – Therefore – No – “Objective” – Standard Of Value – Since Utility May Vary Between Individuals And At Different Times – This Utility Decreases As The Amount Of A Thing That Is Held Or Consumed Increases – Prices – Then – Reflect – The – Utility – That – Buyers Get From Things – The Scarcer They Are – The Higher Their – Marginal Utility – The More Consumers Will Be Willing To Pay For Them

~ TPAWACMIWMTHOHTTA(M)UOAC-TTMWP-IWTSII-‘E’-AIRO-HGHTUT-TS-CCOTEAEF-DASTI-P-A-P-‘O’-S-E-T-STOV-B-TRFTPOE-PIADMOV-W-NLM-TLTPTGITE-A-BTM-A-HMWWC ~ The Point At Which A Consumer’s Money Is Worth More To Him Or Her Than The Additional (Marginal) Unit Of A Commodity – That Their Money Would Purchase – Is Where The System Is In – “Equilibrium” – An Idea Reminiscent Of – How Gravity Held The Universe Together – The Smooth – Continuous Curves Of These Equilibrating And Evolutionary Forces – Depict A System That Is – Peaceful – And – Potentially – “Optimal” – Self-Equilibrating – This – Scarcity Theory Of Value – Became – The Rationale For The Price Of Everything – Price Is A Direct Measure Of Value – We – No Longer Measure – The Labour That Produced The Goods In The Economy – And – By This Means – Assess – How Much Wealth Was Created

~ T-MOU-HBEBTEST-EHB ~ The – Maximization Of Utility – Has Been Extended Beyond The Economic Sphere To – Explain Human Behavior

~ B-DTC-MUT-P-AI-HI-TNEVTWWABFPC-H-I-A-CTI-GPATOPMB ~ But – Despite The Critiques – Marginal Utility Theory – Prevails – And Is – Highly Influential – The Narrow Equilibrium View That We Will All Benefit From Perfect Competition – Has – Influenced – And – Continues To Influence – Government Policies And Those Of Powerful Multilateral Bodies

~ WSLAMITC-HPAD-TANTTTI-OOOMDATTAV ~ When Students Learn About Microecnomics In The Classroom – How Prices Are Determined – They Are Not Told That This Is – Only One Of Many Different Approaches To Thinking About Value

~ AT-M-B-VDFP-SEAVHSIIOTPAW-ATST-AHDAJAA-ISTRTPFW:TUOWATOL ~ According To – Marginalists – Because – Value Derives From Price – Somebody Earning A Very High Salary Is Indicative Of Their Productivity And Worth – At The Same Time – Anybody Holding Down A Job At All – Is Supposed To Reflect Their Preference For Work: The Utility Of Work Against That Of Leisure

~ MUT-HAFTAFOOTKPIMC:TEAOTFS ~ Marginal Utility Theory – Has Also Failed To Account For One Of The Key Problems In Modern Capitalism: The Extractive Activities Of The Financial Sector

~ ITCOCUPIBB-SOTTP-IICA-E-TCI-‘O’-TPP-A-LA-A-I-GDP ~ If The Cost Of Cleaning Up Pollution Is Borne By – Someone Other Than The Polluter – It Is Called An – Externality – The Cost Is – “Outside” – The Polluter’s Profit-And-Loss Account – And – Increases – GDP

~ T-‘BP’-HTETPOF-PVR ~ The – “Banking Problem” – How To Estimate The Productiveness Of Finance – Profits Versus Rents

~ T-FS-FSA-U-N-ACOV ~ The – Financial Sector – Formerly Seen As – Unproductive – Now – A Creator Of Value

~ TCOF-B-PLAEB-I-H-NUSA-E ~ The Celebration Of Finance – By – Political Leaders And Expert Bankers – Is – However – Not Universally Shared Among – Economists

~ PFITVOFWUBI2008I-I-TRTTGFCWTITMOEE-‘C’-SBATP-SB-A-TSTWAU-RMP-N-ZIR-SB-CBBUOGOECBTKTPH ~ Policymakers’ Faith In The Value Of Finance Was Undiminished By Its 2008 Implosion – Indeed – Their Reaction To The Global Financial Crisis Was To Insist That More Of Each Economy’s – “Capital” – Should Be Assigned To Private-Sector Banks – And – To Support Them With An Ultra-Relaxed Monetary Policy – Near-Zero Interest Rates – Supplemented By – Central Banks’ Buying Up Of Government Or Even Corporate Bonds To Keep Their Prices High

~ FSWHR-B-ALIHOBCAFOFIS-SH-LTT-FFCELDM-A-ISD-DREAAECSU-WBC-TTTOEMIHRTSFEMRIP-UD(AB)S ~ Financial Sectors Were Heavily Regulated – Because – A Long International History Of Bank Crashes And Failed Or Fraudulent Investment Schemes – Showed How – Left To Themselves – Financial Firms Could Easily Lose Depositors’ Money – And – In So Doing – Disrupt Real Economic Activity And Even Cause Social Unrest – When Banks Competed – They Tended To Offer Ever More Improbably High Returns To Savers By Funding Ever More Risky Investment Projects – Until Disaster (And Bankruptcy) Struck

~ IITTWICOT-TTRR-BOTB ~ It Is The Taxpayer Who Is Called On To – Take The Real Risk – Bailing Out The Banks

~ TCOHRALRTOTBASI ~ The Golden Combination Of High Return And Low Risk Turned Out To Be A Statistical Illusion

~ SEGTHB-‘PK’ ~ Sustaining Economic Growth Through Household Borrowing – “Privatized Kenesianism”

~ ‘SB’-DFITCB-LABANRAB-P-L-F-MAFAMAAQOTGFS ~ “Shadow Banking” – Diverse Financial Intermediaries That Carryout Bank-Like Activities But Are Not Regulated As Banks – Pawnbrokers – Lenders – Funds – May Account For As Much As A Quarter Of The Global Financial System

~ TFSNAFASAGSOTEVAAP-B-O-15%-OTFGGT-BIN-FI-TRITBFI-MMSFMCH-S-NT-‘RE’-B-I ~ The Financial Sector Now Accounts For A Significant And Growing Share Of The Economy’s Value Added And Profits – But – Only – 15 Per Cent – Of The Funds Generated Go To – Businesses In Non-Financial Industries – The Rest Is Traded Between Financial Institutions – Making Money Simply From Money Changing Hands – Serving – Not The – “Real Economy” – But – Itself

~ MUT:FIVBIIV-A-IEPAPOTV ~ Marginalism’s Ultimate Tautology: Finance Is Valuable Because It Is Valued – And – Its Extraordinary Profits Are Proof Of That Value

~ RINP-FR-CBUT-RL-T-A-AHT-DFTTRE-AOT-FOI ~ Reform Is Not Impossible – Financial Regulation – Can Be Used To – Reward Long-Termism – And – Also Help To – Direct Finance Towards The Real Economy – As Opposed To – Feeding On Itself

~ MSV ~ Maximizing Shareholder Value

~ S-TAUI ~ Short-Termism And Unproductive Investment

~ FAI ~ Financialization And Inequality

~ SV ~ Stakeholder Value

~ PVE ~ Patented Value Extraction

~ IA-COTFT-TI-SB-RTT-N-STB ~ If Anything – Companies Owing Their Fortunes To – Taxpayer Investment – Should Be – Repaying The Taxpayer – Not – Seeking Tax Breaks

~ UTPS ~ Undervaluing The Public Sector

~ TMOA ~ The Myths Of Austerity

~ MN-TOOTA-SBNTNP ~ Magic Numbers – Taken Out Of Thin Air – Supported By Neither Theory Nor Practice

~ T-A-PO-CTAGS-DNRIAEG-WTRPIWD ~ The – Austerity – Policy Of – Cutting Taxes And Government Spending – Does Not Revive Investment And Economic Growth – When The Real Problem Is Weak Demand

~ TOIHWOE ~ Too Often Ideology Has Won Over Experience

~ TCOVMOAFIRPATCOET ~ The Concept Of Value Must Once Again Find Its Rightful Place At The Centre Of Economic Thinking