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I'd agree with much of what Robin says about Robbins, but Robin's position
is undermined when he says that "economics deals with relative value." In
my view, Robbins' economics deals with relative price, not relative value.
What the relationship of price is to value is a complicated issue that
necessarily raises questions of ethics. As economists came to understand
that, what was taught in micro evolved from being called value theory to
being called price theory. Today all we teach is price theory, although by
the lack of discussion of how price theory does not necessarily reflect
value, we often mislead students into thinking we are teaching them more
than what we are.
Dave Colander
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