One of the first—and most important—things free-market Austrian economics teaches is that all value is subjective.

There is no such thing as inherent or intrinsic value.

Something only has value because individuals subjectively determine it has value to them.

For example, when people didn’t understand what crude oil was, they’d find it in their backyards and think it was waste. So they’d pay to have it removed from their property.

Later, once people understood the economic potential of crude oil, it was transformed from unwanted waste into a lucrative commodity.

The oil didn’t change; it was still the same oil. What changed was how people valued it.

Marxists differ in that they falsely believe that labor has inherent or intrinsic value. But this ridiculous notion is easily debunked.

The great economist Murray Rothbard explains this by asking people to try to make and sell mud pies—not the chocolate desserts, but pies literally made of dirt.

According to the Marxists, the pies have objective and intrinsic value because of the labor someone put into making them. But good luck getting someone to pay for them voluntarily.

The concept that all value is subjective applies to all goods, including monetary goods like gold and Bitcoin.