Note 221 — Chapter XI · THE ULTIMATE RELATION OF COST TO VALUE

This enquiry must constitute the first part of the theory of exchange value, since it is quite beyond dispute that cost in any form can influence exchange value only by influencing supply. Value will rest at the level of cost only when the supply of the good is at just the proper point. When the supply is at any other point, as in the case of monopolies, value no longer rests at the level of costs. But value is still determined by certain other influences. The description of these is the first problem.