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Abstract

This book deals with value and prices of goods in markets. More specifically, it examines how we place value on goods and why. It considers value in the broader sense, with particular reference to moral values and how they are formed as well as the relations between economic and non-economic values. It also analyses valuation in financial markets, focusing on credit rating agencies, stock exchange markets, and industrial production. A range of theoretical tools and case studies are presented to illustrate the nature of pricing and the creation of value in markets within social and cultural contexts and preconditions. By way of introduction, this chapter discusses markets, the economic and non-economic dimensions of value, the different perspectives on economic value that have developed in economics and sociology, and the valorisation of goods as part of the market process. It also describes how market actors evaluate goods, the social devices used to classify and categorise goods, the relationship between organisations and valuation, the dynamics of economic value, and the link between value and price.