A group of us are starting a discussion on how to model value, from more first principles.

Value is a major aspect of any economic theory: what it is, how it is produced, measured, stored and transferred between agents. Indeed, historically, these aspects characterise different schools of political economy. Some approaches focus on an objective basis for value such as labour or physical resources. Others place emphasis on subjective judgments by individual agents and free exchange between them.

Recent, often ICT mediated, developments such as “commons based peer production”, “crowd funding”, “freecycling” and new virtual currencies do not fit easily into existing economic models of value. On the other hand “complexity science” tools and approaches allow for a widening of traditional models of value.

Traditional models have focused on agents using either object or subjective notions of value and equilibrium points. Agent-based modelling allows for experimentation with new and hybrid notions of value in non-equilibrium conditions. In these, value might be an emergent phenomena where agents construct notions of value through the interplay of subjective and objective factors supporting novel forms of exchange and cooperation.

There will be a workshop (see below),17th & 18th June in Marseilles, sponsored by NESS (http://www.nessnet.eu/). For details see:
         http://wp.me/P24zGe-bh

If you intended to participate you need send an email to Juliette Rouchier <[log in to unmask]> before 9th June (sorry for late notice).

If you can not make it, email us ([log in to unmask]) anyway to keep you informed as to the results and future initiatives in this direction.