Commodities Value and Material Wealth - Essay Example

Commodities and money A commodity can be said to be an object outside us that satisfy our needs. These needs can either be direct or indirect (Mark 26). While money is the exchange value of a commodity. The exchange value is a quantitative relation in which the commodity in use is exchanged with another one. The value of a commodity remains the same if the labour time required for the production of the commodity remains constant. Some things are of use value but have no value, for example air, this is because no labour is spend to get it (Mark 26).

Commodity presents itself as a use value and exchange value, in the same way labour also presents itself in two fold (Mark 26). In the use value there is a contained useful labour, i.e. productivity activity was involved which had a defined aim. Use values can never confront each other as commodities however if the qualitative labour used for each of them is different, a collision may occur (Mark 30). An increase in the quantity of use values will result in an increase in material wealth. However, there are a times where an increase in the material wealth results in a decrease of use of value.

Commodities come into the world in the form articles, use value or goods. This is there general form. However, they are only commodities because of their two fold nature that is both depository of value and object of utility. Therefore, they only manifest themselves as commodities only when they have the two forms; a physical and a value form. Reference Mark, Harris. “Commodities and Money”. Capital: A critique of political economy. Moscow: Progress publisher. 2O1O. Print.