Somewhere, both John Stuart Mill and Marx both said something like Lowe -- without a starting point, the establishment of a price structure would be difficult. When I was writing my Natural Instability book, I try to find these references, but couldn't. Maybe it was my memory. Here is the closest I came in writing the book:
Even when goods were sold on the market, custom and tradition remained an important component of price (see Dalton 1982). Sometimes these customs required that specific commodities exchange for one another in fixed proportions (See Marx 1977, p. 182; Mandel 1970: i, pp. 73ff; Polanyi 1957; and Oppenheim 1957). As John Stuart Mill observed, in areas where competition has not yet taken hold, "... the habitual regulator is customs, modified from time to time by notions existing in the minds of purchasers and sellers, of some kind of equity or justice" (Mill 1848, p. 243). Since custom varied from place to place, these prices were largely local. Even when goods were sold on the market, custom and tradition remained an important component of price (see Dalton 1982). Sometimes these customs required that specific commodities exchange for one another in fixed proportions (See Marx 1977, p. 182; Mandel 1970: i, pp. 73ff; Polanyi 1957; and Oppenheim 1957). As John Stuart Mill observed, in areas where competition has not yet taken hold, "... the habitual regulator is customs, modified from time to time by notions existing in the minds of purchasers and sellers, of some kind of equity or justice" (Mill 1848, p. 243). Since custom varied from place to place, these prices were largely local. "Forstater, Mathew" wrote: > Lowe had an interesting little paper on value theory where he asked, > "Suppose a universal amnesia were to wipe out the knowledge of all > present prices, would there be a rule for reestablishing them?" He then > looked at both neoclassical marginalist (utility) theory and > classical/Marxian (labor theory of) value theory and concluded that > there is neither case any way to establish prices without reference to > *history*. This does seem to put a bit of a historical > school/institutionalist what jim called 'empiricist' slant on it.* > -- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University [EMAIL PROTECTED] Chico, CA 95929 530-898-5321 fax 530-898-5901
