Value theory represents one of the more fundamental aspects of economic thinking. In this section, I will explain value theory in terms that relate to the reader. I will also cover various aspects of value theory. In this first article I will explain the fundamentals of value theory — the source and measure of value.

The subjective theory of value holds the view, developed by the Austrian School, that economic value is not an inherent property of a good. Rather, it is determined by the preferences of those who wish to acquire the good.

The theory, held by the Austrian economists and by the Anglo-Saxon followers of the English economist, W. Stanley Jevons (1835-1882) and the American economist, John Bates Clark.(1847-1938), that the value of economic goods is in the minds of individual men and therefore is neither constant nor inherent in the goods themselves; that values of the same good vary, as the judgments of the individuals making the valuations vary, from person to person and from time to time for the same person. Also referred to as "subjective-value theory" and "marginal theory of value."

We will start with the Introduction to Economic Value