Exchange
Value is Value in Exchange. Whereas
Value
is an absolute quantity, Exchange Value is a relative quantity.
Whereas all products of human labour contain Value, only commodities
have Exchange Value. The Value of any product of human labour,
including commodities remains constant so long as the labour-time
required for its production does not change. Exchange Value changes
if either the labour-time required to produce the commodity changes,
or if the labour-time required to produce the commodity it is being
exchanged with alters.
Whereas,
Value is measured in Labour-time, Exchange Value is measured in a
certain quantity of some other Use Value. For example,
The Value of
100 yards of linen = 10 hours of labour-time.
The Value of
1 ton of iron = 10 hours of labour time.
The Exchange
Value of 100 yards of linen = 1 ton of iron.
If the
labour-time required to produce 1 ton of iron is reduced to say 5
hours due to a new production process then.
The Value of
100 yards of linen is still 10 hours of labour-time.
The Value of
1 ton of iron = 5 hours of labour-time.
The Exchange
Value of 100 yards of linen = 2 tons of iron.
The same is
true if the situation were reversed. The the Value of the iron would
remain constant whilst the Value of the linen would be halved, and
its Exchange Value against iron would also be halved.
If both now
require only 5 hours of labour-time, their Value is halved, but their
exchange Value remains constant.
So:
The Value of
100 yards of linen = 5 hours of labour-time
The Value of
1 ton of iron = 5 hours of labour-time
The Exchange
Value of 100 yards of linen = 1 ton of iron.
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