IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/cdp/texdis/td656.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

“Value in exchange”: Pufendorf’s moral quantities in Smith’s quantities of labour

Author

Listed:
  • Michele Bee

    (Cedeplar/UFMG)

  • Ivan Sternick

    (Cedeplar/UFMG)

Abstract

This paper aims to show that the “quantities of labor” on which Smith bases his theory of the real measure of exchange value are not objective quantities that can be established prior to the exchange, but that their value is determined by the proportion established in exchange. Contrary to what is often stated, this means that these quantities of labor are neither physical inputs “embodied” in commodities, nor given prices, nor an absolute “disutility”, but that they come close to what Samuel Pufendorf called “moral quantities”. This means they are prices established through common evaluation and agreement in exchange, taking into account different aspects associated with each labor and work. It is here claimed that the estimation of Smith’s wage-differentials should also be understood in this sense. The non-arbitrary character of this conception of value in exchange is explained through Smith’s understanding that, under conditions of equality and liberty, people are capable of and willing to evaluate each other’s labor impartially, since they usually desire to obtain the deserved esteem of others.

Suggested Citation

  • Michele Bee & Ivan Sternick, 2023. "“Value in exchange”: Pufendorf’s moral quantities in Smith’s quantities of labour," Textos para Discussão Cedeplar-UFMG 656, Cedeplar, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais.
    • Handle: RePEc:cdp:texdis:td656
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.cedeplar.ufmg.br/pesquisas/td/TD%20656.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Carlo Benetti, 1981. "La question de la gravitation des prix de marché dans La richesse des nations," Cahiers d'Économie Politique, Programme National Persée, vol. 6(1), pages 9-31.
    2. Daniel Diatkine, 2010. "Vanity and the love of system in Theory of Moral Sentiments," The European Journal of the History of Economic Thought, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(3), pages 383-404.
    3. Nerio Naldi, 2003. "Labour employed in production and labour commanded: a Ricardian conjecture," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 27(4), pages 547-562, July.
    4. Skinner, Andrew S, 1995. "Pufendorf, Hutcheson and Adam Smith: Some Principles of Political Economy," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 42(2), pages 165-182, May.
    5. Enzo Pesciarelli, 1999. "Aspects of the Influence of Francis Hutcheson on Adam Smith," History of Political Economy, Duke University Press, vol. 31(3), pages 525-545, Fall.
    6. Young, Jeffrey T., 2008. "Law And Economics In The Protestant Natural Law Tradition: Samuel Pufendorf, Francis Hutcheson, And Adam Smith," Journal of the History of Economic Thought, Cambridge University Press, vol. 30(3), pages 283-296, September.
    7. John Henry, 2000. "Adam Smith and the Theory Of Value: Chapter Six Considered," History of Economics Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 31(1), pages 1-13, January.
    8. Marian Bowley, 1973. "Studies in the History of Economic Theory before 1870," Palgrave Macmillan Books, Palgrave Macmillan, number 978-1-349-01874-1, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Falkinger, Josef & Zweimuller, Josef, 1996. "The cross-country Engel curve for product diversification," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 7(1), pages 79-97, March.
    2. Menudo, Jose M., 2011. "Market Stability in Adam Smith: Competitive Process and Institutions," MPRA Paper 15361, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. Joël-Thomas Ravix & Paul-Marie Romani, 1983. "Equilibre ou reproduction chez Turgot : réflexions à la suite d'un article récent de M. Herland," Revue Économique, Programme National Persée, vol. 34(2), pages 368-379.
    4. Michele Bee & Luiz Felipe Bruzzi Curi, 2024. "Agreement is money: Beyond the chartalist reading of Adam Smith," Textos para Discussão Cedeplar-UFMG 666, Cedeplar, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais.
    5. Ecem Okan, 2017. "How did it all begin? Adam Smith on the early and rude state of society and the age of hunters," Post-Print hal-03171143, HAL.
    6. Jimena Hurtado, 2023. "Adam Smith, Value and the Taste of Beauty," Documentos CEDE 20685, Universidad de los Andes, Facultad de Economía, CEDE.
    7. Ai-Thu Dang, 1997. "Monnaie, libéralisme et cohésion sociale. Autour de John Locke," Revue Économique, Programme National Persée, vol. 48(3), pages 761-771.
    8. Jimena Hurtado & Maria Pia Paganelli, 2023. "Diamonds are not forever: Adam Smith and Carl Menger on value and relative status," The Review of Austrian Economics, Springer;Society for the Development of Austrian Economics, vol. 36(2), pages 289-310, June.
    9. Jean-Daniel Boyer, 2023. "Débattre mais pas trop. À propos de « l’utilité des discussions économiques » (et de leur inutilité) pour changer l’homme et la société," Working Papers 10-23, Association Française de Cliométrie (AFC).
    10. Mollie Painter-Morland & Rosa Slegers, 2018. "Strengthening “Giving Voice to Values” in Business Schools by Reconsidering the “Invisible Hand” Metaphor," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 147(4), pages 807-819, February.
    11. Michel Rosier, 1992. "Déviations temporaires et permanentes des prix de marché dans la richesse des nations," Cahiers d'Économie Politique, Programme National Persée, vol. 20(1), pages 231-258.
    12. Roberta Capello & Roberto Dellisanti & Giovanni Perucca, 2024. "At the territorial roots of global processes: Heterogeneous modes of regional involvement in Global Value Chains," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 56(3), pages 833-848, May.
    13. Meacci, Ferdinando, 2014. "Ricardo's and Malthus's common error in their conflicting theories of the value of labour," MPRA Paper 55948, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    14. Afifa Alintissar & Abdelkader Intissar & Jean-karim Intissar, 2018. "On dynamics of wage-price spiral and stagflation in some model economic systems," Papers 1812.01707, arXiv.org.
    15. Elazar, Yiftah, 2022. "Adam Smith and the Wealth-Worshipping Spectator," OSF Preprints j5pt6, Center for Open Science.
    16. Julio Cesar Pascale Palhares & Esther R. Afonso & Augusto H. Gameiro, 2019. "Reducing the water cost in livestock with adoption of best practices," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 21(4), pages 2013-2023, August.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Adam Smith; Samuel Pufendorf; Quantities of Labor; Value; Exchange.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • B10 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - History of Economic Thought through 1925 - - - General
    • B11 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - History of Economic Thought through 1925 - - - Preclassical (Ancient, Medieval, Mercantilist, Physiocratic)
    • B12 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - History of Economic Thought through 1925 - - - Classical (includes Adam Smith)

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:cdp:texdis:td656. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Gustavo Britto (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/pufmgbr.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.