The Problem of Value in Economic Theory

Abstract

Modern economics centers in utility theory, which can only be understood by viewing it in relation to ethical as well as to economic thought. Economics stands in a peculiar sense at the meeting point of the two great urges of the mind, the theoretical and the practical interest, the desire to understand the world and the desire to change and use it. In one direction its problems look toward explanation, in the sense of the discovery of laws comparable to those of the physical sciences, while in the other direction they look toward the study of values, criticism of processes and results, and the formulation of objectives and policies.

Citation

Emmett, R.B. (2011), "The Problem of Value in Economic Theory", Emmett, R.B. (Ed.) Frank H. Knight in Iowa City, 1919–1928 (Research in the History of Economic Thought and Methodology, Vol. 29 Part 2), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 15-37. https://doi.org/10.1108/S0743-4154(2011)000029B005