| Both the self-improvement of economic theory and the practice of sustainable development require us to focus on the natural world around us and re-consider the value of natural resources.The purpose of this study is to develop and improve labor theory of value, propose a dual theory of value which contains not only the labor force but also the force of nature. Meanwhile, expand the law of value which based on labor theory of value to a new theory of value based on the new law of value. Finally, the newly established framework is applied to explain some economic phenomenon.The research method follows Thomas Samuel Kuhn's paradigm shift mode. Started from the expansion of basic perspective, monism of labor theory of value, critically inherited the labor theory of value, supply and demand pricing methods and emergy methods and theory, we established a new framework of interpretation:Emergy theory of value. The theory was then verified from two aspects: logical consistency and phenomenon explanatory ability.The newly constructed emergy theory of value regards both labor force and natural force as the source of value. They all create value. The newly constructed emergy law of value inherited some perspectives from law of value. Such as commodity exchange should follow the principle of equivalent exchange. Supply and demand determines the fluctuation range. The difference is that emergy law of value says that the value of one commodity should be determined by its socially necessary emergy instead of socially necessary labor time.Other potential new insights include:Exposition of the relationship between the two price formation methods: in essence, price is determined by socially necessary emergy. On long terms, price tends to fluctuate around value. Value determines the long-term adjustment trend of price. From the phenomenon, price is determined by supply and demand. On short terms, price fluctuates with supply and demand. The relative strength of supply and demand determines the short term adjustment trend of price. Supply-demand price formation mechanism is the appearance, value based price formation mechanism is the essence. Discussion on the nature of the economic crisis: from the phenomenon, economic crisis can be attributed to overproduction as Marx said. And also can attribute to lack of effective demand. However, there is a more basic explanation: all the economic crisis is caused by the accumulation of deviation between price and value.Evaluate the market performance from the aspect of emergy law of value: an efficient market only exist in a narrow range. The price could not deviate too far from the value, and at the same time, could not tightly fluctuate around value. Otherwise, we face economic unfair exchange, if not, inefficient exchange.Understanding of sustainable development and all-round development from the perspective of emergy theory of value: recognizing the value of the forces of nature and compensating nature can be propulsion which forces people to pursuit spiritual products. This kind of low carbon lifestyle change is beneficial to resource conservation, environmental protection and all-round development.A potential numerical method which may verify labor theory of value and law of value: one kilogram wheat, for example, contains 1.03RMB labor force value. This number is near the price of wheat on the market. This may be a manifestation of price fluctuating around value. If we expand the sample size and calculate the value of each commodity, we may find an empirical way to verify the law of value. |
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