Any product on the market has a dual nature of the price, which is set both at the stage of production and at the stage of exchange of goods. This means that the product combines the use and exchange value. It is worth figuring out what these characteristics are.
Consumer value
The products on the market have certain benefits for the consumer. This usefulness is not constant, it is individual for everyone. Of course, the usefulness of a new diary for a schoolchild is incomparably higher than for a pensioner. Therefore, each product has, first of all, a consumer value.
Utility here can be understood as the ability of a product to satisfy the needs of the consumer, so he chooses for himself a product with the set of characteristics that will be convenient for him.
Exchange value
This characteristic of the product is no less relevant than it was several thousand years ago. In those distant times, there were no universal monetary units, therefore, in the market, each product was equated to another product. For example, a liter of olive oil could cost two liters of wine, etc. In other words, the ability of a commodity to be exchanged for others is inherent in its exchange value.
With the development of market relations, globalization, etc. humanity needed to possess a commodity whose exchange value could be applied to everyone else. At first, gold, silver and bronze coins appeared in circulation, and this is quite logical, since these were hard-to-mine, rare metals. But the needs of mankind were growing, and precious metals were decreasing and decreasing. Therefore, it was decided to equate the cost of paper banknotes to the value of gold. The gold reserves of this or that country were equated at the price of a certain number of banknotes.
This could not last long, as gold reserves were diminishing, which led to depreciation, devaluation and inflation of money within countries with limited gold reserves. Therefore, in 1976, a new monetary and financial system was adopted, according to which monetary currencies were equated in their price with the currencies of other countries.
Back to the roots
After 1976, the world gold-monetary system came to the point that banknotes began to have an exchange ability in relation to each other. Many countries opposed this, including the USSR, whose gold and foreign exchange reserves were second only to the United States. Of course, the role of gold in the world economy remains extremely high, but if before the reform money possessed grains of the value of gold, now money is deprived of this. But with the help of them, you can buy the same precious metal, since its price is constantly growing from year to year, which cannot be said about its use value.
