Values, prices and natural liberty: on the dual role of prices in the history of economic analysis

Amos Witztum

LSE Research Online Documents on Economics from London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library

Abstract: Natural liberty is a powerful idea of social order. However, a tension has always existed between its reality and social values. Here, I try to identify where the fault line may lie between an order that fulfils social expectation and one that does not. I claim that throughout history, this fault line had been manifested in the distinction drawn between the concepts of price and value. The first emerges in markets and the second reflects social expectations. Juxtaposing the two reveals either harmony or dissonance between natural liberty and social expectations. Convergence then is a necessary condition for social validity.

Keywords: value and price dichotomy; ethics-economics relationship; natural liberty (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A10 A12 A13 B10 B11 B12 B13 B14 B20 B41 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 34 pages
Date: 2024-12-31
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-his, nep-hme and nep-hpe
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Published in European Journal of the History of Economic Thought, 31, December, 2024, 31(4), pp. 650 - 683. ISSN: 0967-2567

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