Autumn 1997, pp. Abstract Value theory is central to economics. Whenever new economic theories appear on stage, their theory of value is different. I classify value theories along Locke's lines of primary and secondary qualities. When value is thought to inhere in objects, value is a primary quality.
Value here is a secondary quality.
Both are unsatisfactory, value is a social construct. The question arises why social value theory, that Clark and Anderson worked on around the turn of the 19th century, didn't take root.