Value and Exchange

Recorded at the Mises Institute Supporters Summit, 1 November 2008; Auburn, Alabama.

Recorded at the Mises Institute Supporters Summit, 1 November 2008; Auburn, Alabama. 

Recorded at the Mises Institute Supporters Summit, 1 November 2008; Auburn, Alabama.

The consequences of inflation, higher taxes, and more regulation that result from government bailout plans, however, are sure to make losers of us all.

The law of comparative advantage tells us that no matter how much more productive they are than the rest of us, even people who are very productive can be made better off by trading with people who are not.

From “Choice in Currency: A Path to Sound Money”; the Mises Circle in Vancouver. Recorded 13 September 2008.

From “Choice in Currency: A Path to Sound Money”; the Mises Circle in Vancouver. Recorded 13 September 2008.

This completes the study of money and of the effects of changes in monetary relations on the economic system. Like all commodities, money has its own supply and demand and price: purchasing power. Everyone deals in money.

Direct exchange was limited. The pattern of indirect exchange led to the common medium of exchange: money. Maximization of psychic income always leads the seller of a good to seek the highest money price for it, and the buyer of a good to seek the lowest money price.

Exchange is the foundation of the division of labor. Each party to an exchange must expect greater psychic benefit than what he is giving up. Thus, trades are not equal, they are win-win activities. Property and ownership are value-free and a pre-condition of a free market.