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With apologies; I am not an expert in the history of economic thought.
Maybe the following is of some interest.
Bailey: "It is only when objects are considered together as subjects of preference or
exchange, that the specific feeling of value can arise, When they are so considered, our
esteem for one object, or our wish to possess it, may be equal to, or greater, or less
than our esteem for another: it may, for instance be doubly as great, or, in other words,
we would give one of the former for two of the latter. (...) This relation can be
denoted only by quantity. The value of A is expressed by the quantity of B for which it
will exchange," (Critical Dissertation etc. p.2, as quoted on pp. 158 and 167-168 in
volume 2 of J.E. Vleeschhouwer's Economische Rekenvormen (freely: Economic Calculus), a
two-volume dissertation of some 570 pages.
JEV then points (pp. 185-186) to Bailey, CD p. 39, that this can be
generalised, enabling us to "speak of money-value, corn-value,
cloth-value, according to the commodity with which it is compared." V.
refers to several other authors, including Marx (Surplus Value III), making
the same observation several times (apparently not taking away from his
Labour Theory of Value, as his adherents insist rightly or wrongly).
JEV writes as one of his 61 "theses" accompanying his dissertation (I think
that the Netherlands School of Economics required 12 in those days) "Samuel
Bailey anticipated (in) 1825 the criticism which would later be levied
against Marx's value and price theory. This is also a factor that helps
explain Marx's unkind qualification of Bailey." (my translation)
Vleeschhouwer was the best-read Dutch economist of the mid-20th century. He
worked briefly with Joseph Schumpeter in Vienna and tried to convince the
governors of the Netherlands School of Economics (then still called the
Nederlandsche Handelshoogeschool or Netherlands Commercial Academy) to
bring JS to Rotterdam. Alas (according to JEV), the Port Barons running
the school (and the city) found this foreigner wanting, possibly because
of his Roman Catholic faith.
JEV never tried to obtain a professorate (Rotterdam did have a few other
Jews, so that would not have been a factor). After the war he coordinated
the rebuilding of the Rotterdam port into the largest/busiest of the
world. A family friend of my parents, he was a frequent visitor to our home
and I spent many a Saturday (Shabbath) afternoon in his study listening to
his Jewish and worldly wisdom.
J.I. Vorst
P.S.
Vleeschhouwer headlines his discussion of the importance of terminology
with a quote from Bailey 1825: "... [A] science which owes half of its
difficulties to the laxity and ambiguity of language." This warning should
be on every course outline and syllabus.
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