Google
Monday 
March 18, 2024 

AmosWEB means Economics with a Touch of Whimsy!

AmosWEBWEB*pediaGLOSS*aramaECON*worldCLASS*portalQUIZ*tasticPED GuideXtra CrediteTutorA*PLS
OWNERSHIP AND CONTROL: Ownership means that you have legal "title" to a resource, good, or commodity. Control means that you have the ability to determine how a resource, good, or commodity is used. While it would seem as though these two always go together, such is not the case. People generally have ownership and control over their labor and personal property (clothing, furniture, canned goods, etc.). But in some circumstances ownership is absent of control and control exists without ownership.

Visit the GLOSS*arama


VALUE IN USE:

The satisfaction of wants and needs provided by the direct consumption of goods and services. Acquiring value from the use of goods and services is really the ultimate goal of economic activity. It is the final step in the production, allocation, and consumption activities that are undertaken to address the fundamental problem of scarcity. Value in use should be contrasted with the similar phrase, value in exchange.
Value in use is another phrase for satisfaction, for the satisfaction generated by consuming a good or service. This particular phrase is most useful when compared with the notion of value in exchange.

The distinction between value in use and value in exchange is important for money, especially the difference between commodity money and fiat money. Commodity money has value in exchange AND value in use. In contrast, fiat money has value in exchange but little or no value in use.

Goods have value in use when they provide satisfaction. When a good is also used as money, then it has value in exchange, too. For commodity money, value in use largely determines value in exchange. If, for example, bread is used as commodity money and one loaf of bread provides the same value in use (satisfaction) as two apples, then the value in exchange is one loaf for two apples. The prices of other goods, the value in exchange, is specified in a similar fashion based on value in use.

People are willing to accept commodity money in exchange for good because (1) they can obtain satisfaction by consuming the commodity or (2) they can trade the commodity for another satisfaction-generating good.

The earliest forms of money were commodities precisely because they provided value in use to virtually everyone in an economy, such as grains used for food and animal skins used for clothing. People were originally willing to accept something like a loaf of bread in payment for another good because they were hungry, because the bread had value in use.

However, because others were also hungry, people soon realized that they could accept a loaf of bread in payment even if they were NOT hungry because they could then trade it for another good. They could trade it to someone else who WAS hungry. Knowing that EVERYONE was willing to trade for bread gave it value in exchange.

Although human civilization flourished through the centuries using commodity money with value in exchange AND value in use, modern economies have realized that value in use is NOT an essential quality for money. Modern fiat money functions quite well with little or no value in use. A hundred dollar bill provides very little direct satisfaction of wants and needs. Its value comes from the wants-and-needs-satisfying goods that it can be used to buy. Money is only valuable NOT for what it IS, but for what it can BUY.

<= VALUE IN EXCHANGEVARIABLE COST =>


Recommended Citation:

VALUE IN USE, AmosWEB Encyclonomic WEB*pedia, http://www.AmosWEB.com, AmosWEB LLC, 2000-2024. [Accessed: March 18, 2024].


Check Out These Related Terms...

     | value in exchange | commodity money | fiat money | barter | barter economy | double coincidence of wants | M1 |


Or For A Little Background...

     | money | money functions | money characteristics | value | price | market | government functions | satisfaction | exchange |


And For Further Study...

     | fractional-reserve banking | banking | money creation | monetary policy | Federal Reserve System | money supply | money supply, aggregate demand determinant | monetary economics | Keynesian economics | aggregate market analysis | business cycles |


Related Websites (Will Open in New Window)...

     | Federal Reserve System | Federal Reserve Education | U.S. Department of the Treasury |


Search Again?

Back to the WEB*pedia


APLS

PURPLE SMARPHIN
[What's This?]

Today, you are likely to spend a great deal of time flipping through the yellow pages looking to buy either pink cotton balls or a genuine down-filled comforter. Be on the lookout for jovial bank tellers.
Your Complete Scope

This isn't me! What am I?

Sixty percent of big-firm executives said the cover letter is as important or more important than the resume itself when you're looking for a new job
"Whatever course you decide upon, there is always someone to tell you that you are wrong. There are always difficulties arising which tempt you to believe that your critics are right. To map out a course of action and follow it to an end requires...courage."

-- Ralph Waldo Emerson

IER
International Economic Review
A PEDestrian's Guide
Xtra Credit
Tell us what you think about AmosWEB. Like what you see? Have suggestions for improvements? Let us know. Click the User Feedback link.

User Feedback



| AmosWEB | WEB*pedia | GLOSS*arama | ECON*world | CLASS*portal | QUIZ*tastic | PED Guide | Xtra Credit | eTutor | A*PLS |
| About Us | Terms of Use | Privacy Statement |

Thanks for visiting AmosWEB
Copyright ©2000-2024 AmosWEB*LLC
Send comments or questions to: WebMaster