Understanding the fallacy of the labor theory of value is a first step toward respect for privately owned and controlled property, without which there can be neither voluntary exchange nor freedom.
Many people sincerely believe that the value of anything is determined by the labor used in producing it…. [but] Day-to-day experiences reveal its error … the same labor could be used to make mud pies as to make mince pies, yet the value in the marketplace would differ. A service or a product of little value at one time or in one place may [also] be highly valued at another time and place.
Individuals have varying value judgments. Value in the market sense, therefore, is a subjective rather than an objective determination. Value, as beauty, cannot be objectively determined.