I am having troble deciding between two theories of value: scarcity need and labor cost of production. I found by accident a long, long thread on this list about the labor theory of value where B. DeLong said "a commodity has (exchange) value if it's scarce regardless of whether there is wage labor. M Perelman replied "a commodity has value if it embodies labor even if it is not scarce".

But marginalists since Jevons have claimed that the labor affects the value of a commodity only to the extent that the commodity becomes scarce - a commodity that can be produced in 5 days will be more scarce that one produced in 1 hour. Neoclassical economic theory claims to discover universal economic rules and thus diregards whether the costs of production are born by labor or some natural force. What for Marxism only appears as a relationship between things is really a relationship between things for the Marginalist because natural scarcity not a social relation. What is Marxism's objection to this characterization of value? (Here's what Lionel Robbins says economics is about:
"Human behavior as a relationship between ends and scarce means that have alternative uses". cit in Sweezy, Theoy of Capitalist Development.)

Could anyone suggest works (preferably from Marxian perspective) that deal with this issue very plainly? (I'm reading the hilferding/bohm-bawerk debate - difficult for the amateur. Where does Marx deal with this in Capital? )

Thank You,
Jon


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