Exchange-value
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The exchange-value, or value in exchange, of a commodity represents rather what (quantity of) other commodities it will exchange for, if traded on a market.
Distinguishing characteristics of exchange-values include:
- Exchange-value for Marx is not identical to its price, and does not need to be expressed in money prices necessarily.
- A commodity's exchange-value manifests itself as something totally independent of its use-value. But if we abstract from their use-value, there remains their value, as has just been defined. The common factor in the exchange relation, or in the exchange-value of the commodity, is therefore its value.