<p>I recall reading a paper a while ago, but have forgotten its title, authors, and abstract. The topic of the paper was how to define &quot;value&quot; without regard to any particular theory of value, using concepts from statistical mechanics.</p>
<p>In particular, the paper assumed some reasonable definition of &quot;price;&quot; the price of a good is a property of individual transactions and particular bundles of goods. From there, they defined &quot;value;&quot; the value of a good is an <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ensemble_(mathematical_physics)" rel="nofollow noreferrer">ensemble property</a> of the entire market for the good, and cannot be determined solely by repeated measurements of price.</p>
<p>I don't recall the examples in the paper, but one of them might have been mass-produced foodstuffs. An individual bundle of food is priced according to the particular details of the transaction, like whether the purchaser is the end consumer or an intermediate grocer. The value of the foodstuffs is derived from the various inputs into the production process, which are averaged out over many bundles and cannot be deduced purely from price information.</p>
<p>Does this ring a bell for anybody?</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-10-03T16:47:52.570Z
Is there anything else you might remember about this paper? When you read it or what journal it might have been in? An application of the theory to a specific sector?
Kitsune Cavalry
CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-10-04T20:11:02.680Z
I probably read it *à la carte* as a PDF online, as that's how I read most papers. I recall that the paper was being used in an argument about the labor theory of value, but I also recall that the paper insisted that it was not endorsing any particular theory of value.
Corbin
<reference-request><price><value>
Reference request: Applying statistical mechanics to price and value
Corbin
# Reference request: Applying statistical mechanics to price and value

(Asked by: username_0 on 2023-10-03)

I recall reading a paper a while ago, but have forgotten its title, authors, and abstract. The topic of the paper was how to define "value" without regard to any particular theory of value, using concepts from statistical mechanics.

In particular, the paper assumed some reasonable definition of "price;" the price of a good is a property of individual transactions and particular bundles of goods. From there, they defined "value;" the value of a good is an [ensemble property](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ensemble_(mathematical_physics)) of the entire market for the good, and cannot be determined solely by repeated measurements of price.

I don't recall the examples in the paper, but one of them might have been mass-produced foodstuffs. An individual bundle of food is priced according to the particular details of the transaction, like whether the purchaser is the end consumer or an intermediate grocer. The value of the foodstuffs is derived from the various inputs into the production process, which are averaged out over many bundles and cannot be deduced purely from price information.

Does this ring a bell for anybody?

**Tags:** reference-request, price, value
> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Is there anything else you might remember about this paper? When you read it or what journal it might have been in? An application of the theory to a specific sector?  
> **username_0**: I probably read it *à la carte* as a PDF online, as that's how I read most papers. I recall that the paper was being used in an argument about the labor theory of value, but I also recall that the paper insisted that it was not endorsing any particular theory of value.  

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## 0 answers

