Therefore, value lies in comparing and appreciating the various services that are exchanged.

Frédéric Bastiat
Complete Works, Volume 7, pages 416 to 418 (in French)
December 21st, 1848

Among the two letters sent to Opprandino Arrivabene, this one replies to comments he had made to an article published in the Journal des Economistes in December 1848. Guillaumin informs us that the initial text corresponds to pages 73 and 74 of the Economic Harmonies; looking at the published article that matches pages 73 and the following ones to the end of chapter 3 in Economic Harmonies pertaining to the needs of man, it is possible that the discussion was born out of confusion around the labour theory of value.

This is the context from which I note down today’s quote, which, even if it does not reach the depth of Menger, Walras and Jevons, shows that Frédéric Bastiat had a deep understanding of what value was. Opportunity costs clearly appear as a fundamental element of it but we can also see that exchange was at the heart of value creation.

Frédéric Bastiat did not go down in history as a founder of the theory of value because he had not been able to articulate it as well as his successors did but it may well be one of the reasons why we can regret his untimely death. What would he have brought us if he had come to live thirty more years?!