When students learn about microeconomics in the classroom (e.g. how prices are determined, including wages), they are not told that this is only one of many different approaches to thinking about value. It is, as far as they are concerned, the only one–and, as a result, there is no need to refer to the word ‘value’. The term essentially disappears from the discourse. It is simply Microeconomics 101. In concluding our history of economic thought, we should ask: is this only an academic exercise, or does it matter? Why it does matter is the subject of this book: it is crucial to our
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