THE MEASUREMENT OF VALUE

Abstract : The fundamental contemporary issue in the theory of value is the objectivity of values. Since the notion of value is basically quantitative this issue comes down to the question: are values measurable. Von Neumann and Morgenstern in their book Theory of Games and Economic Behavior have suggested an ingenious yardstick, namely the comparison of goods with probability combinations. They have demonstrated that such comparisons allow the construction of a numerical scale for values which is unique except for the choice of zero point and an arbitrary scale factor. This theory is discussed from a critical point of view.