The ultimate source of the determination of prices is the value judgments of the consumers.
Prices are the outcome of the valuation preferring a to b .
They are social phenomena as they are brought about by the interplay of the valuations of all individuals participating in the operation of the market. Each individual, in buying or not buying and in selling or not selling, contributes his share to the formation of the market prices. But the larger the market is, the smaller is the weight of each individual's contribution. Thus the structure of market prices appears to the individual as a datum to which he must adjust his own conduct. The valuations which result in determination of definite prices are different.