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I apologize for not replying sooner to Pat Gunning's pointed questions. I 
was busy NOT enjoying the use value of a medical treatment which I 
perceived to have lousy utility, but whose exchange value was very steep 
indeed. 
 
Seriously, the other difficulty I had was the narrowness with which he had 
framed the issue. I could not find a way of getting inside that box, 
because I was referring to shared values in a much broader sense. His 
example of use of paper money does not capture what we normally consider to 
be ethical, cultural norms in a society. Rod Hay's comment that 
 
"If a group shares a value system and acts upon it, it is meaningful to 
call that value system objective" is most useful here. 
 
Those value systems are relevant to economics, because they affect economic 
outcomes. If economics was about 'how mankind goes about the business of 
satisfying its material wants' , then I believe the social value systems 
affect how we 'use our scarce resources '. 
 
Referring to value in use and value in exchange Pat wrote: "[they] acquire 
some items because they plan to use them and other items because they plan 
to exchange them." I believe that the distinction between these two kinds 
of 
values is more important when you consider their production. Economics does 
not concern itself with household production of use values which contribute 
substantially to people's material happiness, and it is easy to make the 
case that the patriarchal values, and social norms have contributed 
substantially to the sexual division of labor, and its invisibility in 
economics. Smith's moral sentiments and Schumpeter's sociology add insights 
to our understanding of how the economy actually works and I wondered if 
the practice of economics has not been impoverished since we focus on the 
tool kit of economic analysis rather than its wider context. The very fact 
that economists disagree violently on many issues tells us how important is 
the role of values and  
ideologies in the practice of our discipline, no matter how refined the 
tools. 
 
If this is still illogical or unclear, I plead guilty as charged. Going 
outside the box has its own risks. 
 
Best, Sumitra 
 
I hope Susan Feiner is able to send a link to the Challenge article she 
mentioned in her post. 
 
 
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