Wikinventia — Atlas of discoveries and inventions · Exploration Age

Subjective theory of value — Diego de Covarrubias

1554 AD · Transmission: Silenced
PhilosophyTheoryHispanic

The Toledan jurist and bishop Diego de Covarrubias y Leyva states in his Variarum resolutionum (1554) the principle that the value of goods is not intrinsic to their nature but a product of the subjective estimation of those who demand them. Using the example of the price of wheat in the Indies versus Spain, he articulates the foundations of what three centuries later would be known as the subjective theory of value — canonically attributed to Carl Menger (1871), who cites neither Covarrubias nor the School of Salamanca in his main work.

InstitutionUniversity of Salamanca
Historical regionCrown of Castile
Primary sourceVariarum resolutionum ex jure pontificio, regio et cæsareo libri IV (1554)
Original languageLatin
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