The Value Of Labor

The Value of Labor

Far too much time has been wasted discussing the labor theory of value. To put it simply, what should have been said is that labor is what human beings should receive compensation for. If you get compensation based on something else, then that may be considered unfair.

We could then call this "the labor basis for compensation".

Similar to the idea of democracy, that people should be allowed authority based on popular support properly documented, the labor basis of compensation is a political value that if economic compensation diverges too far from one's labor, then something is flawed.

Even so, I find this political value ill conceived, especially when taken to an extreme. It is probably better when labor and compensation have some degree of proportionality, but we pay people for our own satisfaction, and not for their pain. If you measure something, then you will maximize that thing. So a very strict labor basis for compensation, could easily result in excess and unnecessary pain, purely on the basis of seeking to game what constitutes labor.

There may be a defensible version of the labor theory of value, but if there is, it is far too obtuse and convoluted to warrant serious discussion. To me, it seems much more political than anything.