t
which is received. Others have said that, if one party gains, it must
evidently be by robbing the other party. According to this view, trade
would consist in trying to beggar your neighbour. That which is given
does really equal in value that which is received, but it does not equal
it in utility, and to increase utility is the purpose of all production
and all commerce. We do not pay for things in proportion to their
usefulness, or else air and water would be the most costly of all
things. A good-sized loaf may be bought for fourpence or sixpence,
although bread is the staff of life. Before attempting to understand
this apparent paradox, we must settle exactly what we mean by value.

#71. What is Value?# In exchanging some goods for other goods, there
arises the question, How much of one kind shall be given for so much of
the other? Some things are said to be #valuable#, as in the case of a
gold watch or a diamond ring, because in exchange for them we can get a
great quantity of other articles. Ashes are of little or no value,
because we cannot get anything in exchange for them. Now this word
#value# is a very difficult one, and is employed to mean different
things. We may say that quinine is valuable for curing fevers, that iron
is valuable for improving the blood, or that water is valuable for
putting out fires. Here we do not mean valuable in exchange, for quinine
would cure fevers just as well if it cost a penny an ounce instead of
some ten shillings. Water, if we can get it at the right time, puts out
a fire whether it costs much or little or nothing. It is clear, then,
that by valuable we often mean #valuable in use#. The words value and
valuable are in fact #ambiguous#. (See Logic Primer, pp. 22-26, on The
Correct Use of Words.) #There is value in use and value in exchange, and
many things which would be commonly said to have little value in
exchange have much value in use.# But of these meanings, "value in use"
is nothing but the #utility# of a thing to us, that is, the utility of
all such portions of it as we can actually employ. Thus, the value in
use of water means the utility of the water that we drink, or wash in,
or cook with, or water the roads with, and this utility is very great.
But of course it cannot mean the utility of water which is not useful to
us, but on the contrary hurtful, as in the case of floods, damp houses,
wet mines, and so forth.

We may now see how true was the remark of Genovesi,