From: DavidWelch-AT-pseud.pseud
Date: Mon, 9 Oct 2000 22:55:20 +0100
Subject: M-INTRO: Value theory



felix-AT-pseud.pseud wrote
> Marx claims that the value of a commodity comes from the labor which was
> expended to produce the commodity.  I am curious how Marx would account >
for the inflated value of commodities that are novel or rare:  old 
> coins, beanie babies, collectable stamps, a dress worn by Jackie 
> Kennedy, etc.  The labor expended to produce these items is no more than >
would be needed to produce a coin, a stuffed animal, a regular stamp, > etc.
 Does anyone know how Marx explains such phenomenon?     
>
These sorts of commodities aren't explained in Marx's theory. I don't
think this constitutes a serious flaw however, Marx was interested in 
explaining the workings of capitalism, where prices do bear some relation
to the labour expended in the vast majority of cases. If we were 
discussing a society based mainly around the production of beanie babies then
obviously a different theory would be required ;-)


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