The other way to measure profit and need is in terms of energy, calories. With energy, individuals must bring in more calories, in food, or save more calories, with clothes and shelter, than were used to obtain these things. We have an instinctive sense for energy efficiency, for how hard we work for a given return, that can be objectively checked. There are complex paths of energy flow in a society. One common challenge is to ask how art work can be measured in terms of energy.
Artists eat, they use shelter, use tools, all energy measurable, in order to make their art.
While difficult to measure directly, such things can be worked out by trial and error. In changing to a new system, one would start very simple. For example a joke, or singing a song, can release tension, these are very cheap, yet can bring great returns. There are biologists doing energy measurment of animal economies, with good predictive success. Bernd Heinrich is one.