order to understand trading processes and markets. Exchange value thus becomes simply the price for which a good will trade in a given market which is identical to what Marx refers to as price. These trading processes are no longer understood in economics as social processes involving human giving and taking, getting and receiving, but as technical processes in which rational, self-interested economic actors negotiate prices based on subjective perceptions of utility. Market realities are therefore understood in terms of supply and demand curves which sets price at a level where supply equals demand. Professor John Eatwell criticizes this approach as follows: See also Labor theory of value Law of value Natural economy Prices of production Real prices and ideal prices Unequal exchange Use value Value in economics Value-form Notes References Karl Marx, Das Kapital, Part 1, Ch. 1. Makoto Itoh, The Basic Theory of Capitalism. Alexander Gersch, On the Theory of Exchange Value. David Ricardo, The Principles of Political Economy and Taxation. James Heartfield, The Economy of time Classical economics Marxian economics