How do we place value on goods--and, importantly, why? Valuation and pricing are core issues in the market economy, but understanding of these concepts and their interrelation is weak. In response, The Worth of Goods takes a sociological approach to the perennial but timely question of what makes a product valuable.
Structured in three parts, it first examines value in the broader sense--moral values and how they are formed, and the relations between economic and non-economic values-- discussing such matters as the value of an oil spill, the price of a scientific paper, value in ethical...