What is a "Fair price" ? Insights from economics[La perception du « juste prix » : le regard de l'économiste]

The notion of a "fair price" is a major issue at the intersection of economics, social justice, and sustainability. In economics, price primarily reflects the meeting of supply and demand on the market, and market competition is a mechanism that drives greater efficiency in allocating the productive resources needed to shape supply and demand. This abstract definition is not directly connected to the idea of justice. Moreover, it conceals the social, technical, and organizational processes that underpin price formation; and even more so, it tends to obscure the fact that these processes are rooted in a set of values that evolve within society. Given the complexity of how exchanges are organized in the market and the contemporary challenges—particularly in the agricultural sector—it is necessary to rethink these processes of constructing values and prices, especially the scales at which this construction operates. The argument put forward here is that value chains can serve as a key space for strengthening social interactions that lead to fair prices—prices that better reflect sustainability challenges—depending on how shared knowledge of these challenges and of the means to address them is built. This invites us to consider how to rethink competition policy between value chains, rather than simply between isolated firms in the market, in order to experiment with a more responsible market order.