their production is not equal.532 This equality he obtains through a proportion, in which the objects of exchange stand in inverse ratio to the producers.533 The equalization of the commodities is thus based, according to Aristotle, upon an estimate of the labor or cost of production in each case.534 Again, he points out that the standard by which all products are measured is need or demand (χρεία) for reciprocal services,535 thereby making demand a social fact dependent upon organized society. It is, in his thought, the “common denominator of value” which finally determines the actual basis on which all goods are exchanged or services rendered. Elsewhere Aristotle’s conception of value is more individualistic, like that of Xenophon and Plato, but Haney536 overlooks this passage in asserting that his notion of value is “purely subjective.” It is not merely “equal wants” that are considered, as he states, but equal costs as well.537 This demand, or common measure of value, is expressed in terms of money (νόμισμα).538
It is clear then, from this passage in the Ethics, that Aristotle understood that economic value is determined by demand, as measured in money, and by labor invested or cost of production.539 This latter element, of course, involves the condition that the product be limited in supply, though this is not expressly stated.540 To be sure, the interest of the moral philosopher is also paramount here,541 as in the Politics passage. The thought is centered on fair exchange, as a phase of justice, rather than upon the problem of value. Nevertheless, his discussion reveals a clear insight into demand and cost of production as the two most important elements in economic value.542
WEALTH
Since Aristotle had a better apprehension of the theory of value than other Greek thinkers, we may expect him also to define more clearly the concept of wealth. In the Politics, he names the following attributes of genuine (ἀληθινός) wealth (πλοῦτος): necessary to life; useful to persons associated