Is health a «expensive» service? Is there a «fair» price for health services? Should it be enough for the cost of personnel or by difference? The value theory tries a respondent of these questions, not only with health but with all market goods.
This contributed is about the theory of value, which explains the determination of prices, and curriculum how different authors have developed schools, generating debates that have influenced economic thinking.
The economy has been a social science that originated at the end of the 18Medical Care based on value»From Michael Porter, another young if we compare it with the subtraction of the authors.
No value theory has studied health; Only water and diamonds in the famous «Plato’s paradox.» Nor Porter in his book «Competitive advantage», although he does from 2012 with the creation of the Ichom methodology, which owes its name to its creative institution, the International Consortium for the Measure of Health Results.
Then, it is presented how the concept of value has been understood throughout HISTIA.
The value theory: concepts and evolution
Value theory is a central concept in economics that seeks to explain the origin and determination of the price of goods and services. Throughout history, various schools of thought have developed different approaches to value, from ethical and philosophical concepts to economic models based on the office and demand. Female of these approaches.
- The value theory according to Plato and Aristotle
Plato (Patricio de Azcárate – Philosophy project in Spanish, 2020)
Plato linked the economy justice And the social organization. In his work The RepublicHe stated that the value of the goods lies in their contribution to collective well -being. His moralistic focus emphasized that the economy should serve the stability of the Polis More than individual gain.
Aristotle (Sandelin, 2014)
Aristotle distinguished between Use value (usefulness of a good) and Exchange value (Your ability to be exchanged). Although it considered the necessary trade, it condemned the usury and excessive accumulation of wealth. His concept of Commutative justice It established that the exchanges should be equitable, anticipating the notion of a fair price.
- Scholastic current and Salamanca School
Medieval scholasticism (Zalba, 1944)
Scholastic philosophy, influenced by Aristotle and Christianity, developed the idea of Fair priceWhich should reflect the cost of production, the usefulness of good and market conditions. Santo Tomás de Aquino defended a balance between benefit and morality, condemning the excessive usury and profit.
Salamanca School (Fradejas, 2012)
In the 16th century, the Salamanca school modernized the theory of value by introducing the idea of the Price subjectivity. Francisco de Vitoria, Domingo de Soto, Martín de Azpilcueta and Luis de Molina argument that the value of the goods depends on scarcity and demand. Also anticarone Quantitative theory of moneyObserving that the authorship of the monetary mass caused inflation.
In the eighteenth century, the physiocratsLed by François Quesnay, they affirmed that only the Agriculture generated real valueSince the earth was the only source of wealth. Consider that trade and manufacturer do not create value again, but only redistributed existing wealth. His doctrine influenced the classical economy, although his mink on value was overcome by broader theories.
- The classical economy: Smith, Ricardo and Marx
Adam Smith and the value paradox (Smith, 1976)
Adam Smith formulated the water paradox and diamonds: why essential goods such as water have a low price, while less necessary products, such as diamonds, expensive son? Distinguished between Use value (utility) and Exchange value (Market price). He also proposed that the work was a factor a key in determining value.
David Ricardo and the value of value-work (Ricardo, 1996)
Ricardo developed the theory of value-workAccording to which the value of a good depends on the amount of work required to apply. He differentiated between reproductible goods (whose value is linked to work) and goods without reproducible (detected by laferta and demand). In addition, he analyzed the distribution of the intake and the role of wages and benefits.
Karl Marx and surplus value (Marx, 2017)
Marx brought the value of value-work beyond, arguing that the Merchandise is determined by the Social work necessary To produce it. Introduced the concept of MásvalíaExplaining that the capitalists strengthen of the surplus value generated by the workers, which gender exploitation and inequality.
In the nineteenth, the marginal (Carl Menger, William Jevons and Léon Walras) revolutionized the value of value by introducing the Marginal utility. Argument that the value of a good does not depend on the incorporated work, but on the Additional satisfaction Which provides the last unit consumed.
This Hat Theory The paradox of value: water is abundant and its marginal utility is low, while diamonds are scarce and their marginal utility is high, which exhicas its high prices. This cove that gave rise to the Neoclassical economy And the modern theory of the office and demand.
Conclusion
As has been exposed, a history, the theory of value has evolved from ethical and philosophical approaches to market -based models. From the social justice of Plato and Aristotle, going through the just medieval price, to the theory of the value-work of the economists of classical economists and the marginal utility of the neoclassicals, current current body has contributed new perspectives for the understanding Econtrender Prelas.
Strictly speaking a value theory, and value based on value is still another theory of value, it should be valid until they are refuted. According to Karl Popper, universal laws cannot be demonstrated accumulating more and more positive cases.
Applied to health, it is about how alteriorly commented that functionality only a health management theory based on value in case the following conditions:
- That consistent mar theory (that contradictory consequences cannot be deduced).
- That the theory is not simply a tautology (that is, to add something a real knowledge).
- That the theory goes beyond existing theories.
- That the conclusions agree with reality, carrying out experiments.
It is in point 3 where this text puts special emphasis when describing existing theories about value. I leave the final conclusion to the reader.
References
«Plato, eutidem or the disputer». Available is: www.filosofia.org. Retrieved on February 23, 2025. «… Because you already know that the shortage leads to the price of things. Water, as Píndaro says, is excellent, but it is not too common. «
Sandelin, BO; Trautwein, Hans-Michael; Wundrak, Richard (2014). A brief history of economic thought. Milton Park: Routledge. pp. 23-24
Zalba, M. (1944) The economic value in the scholars: (conclusion), ecclesiastical studies. Theological and Canonical Research and Information Magazine, 18 (69), pp. 145-164. Available is: https://revistas.comillas.edu/index.php/estudioseclesosticas/article/view/21390. Retrieved on February 24, 2025
Fradejas, Fernando Hernández (2012). The Salamanca school and the subjective theory of value. Escurialense legal and economic yearbook, no 45, p. 531-556. https://publicaciones.rcumariacristina.net/aje/article/view/123/111
Escartin-González, Eduardo, Velasco-Moente, Francisco (2009). Quesnay and the general concepts of physiocracy. Illustration, illustrations. Real Bascongada Sociedad of the Friends of the Country. Page 1 – 12. Available is: https://personal.us.es/escotin/concotos_de_la%20Fisiocracy.pdf. Retrieved on February 23, 2025.
Smith, A. (1976). An investigation into nature and the causes of the wealth of nations. Indianapolis: RH Campbell and A. Skinner. Liberty Classics; 193-222 http://files.libertyfund.org/files/220/0141-02_bk.pdf
Ricardo, D., (1996). Principles of political economy and taxes. Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books. CHAPTER I «ON THE VALUE» https://competiCionandandopropropiation.econ.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/95/1970/01/principles-Of-political-economy-and-axation-1817.pdf
Marx, K. Capital, First Book, Cap. I, merchandise and money. Web.ucm.es. Filed from the original on October 1, 2020. Available in https://web.archive.org/web/20201001060220/https://webs.ucm.es/info/bas/es/marx-eg/capital1/1.htm. Retrieved on October 16, 2020.
Chornet, José Castañeda (1974). The centenary of marginalism. Annals of the Royal Academy of Moral and Political Sciences, No. 50. pp 1-19. Available in https://racmyp.es/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/a50-7.pdf
