----------------- HES POSTING ----------------- 
(Originally sent on 2/23/2004.) 
The title of this thread is very interesting. Can we separate worth from 
value? What is the value of anything? Is it the valuation set in the market 
as economics presumes? How do we then square the under-valuation of many  
activities considered worthy in themselves such as education and child care 
today [as reflected in the pay of these professionals relative to other 
activities such as say, being an advertising executive or a professional 
athlete] with some fundamental sense of what is a good society? Or should 
valuation be dictated by some ideals of what is a decent human society? Do 
we consider our environment worthy of our reverence? And if we do so, why 
do we accept its degradation without much unease?  
 
Economists may have a lot to account for in explaining the contradiction in 
the idea of worth/value and their acceptance of the discipline's practice. 
 
Sumitra Shah 
 
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