Note 217 — Chapter XI · THE ULTIMATE RELATION OF COST TO VALUE

That is, it applies only where goods are held in stocks by individual consumers. Thus the “esteem” value of a piano commonly has nothing to do with “marginal” utility. Only if consumers were to own pianos in stocks—to use several at once—would there be grounds for speaking of the marginal utility of a piano. For further consideration of this point see the next section.