What are examples of economic values in use today?

The education sector is one of the areas that demonstrates the concept of economic value. Students attach different values to different academic courses based on perceived gain after graduation. A person may be willing to pay more tuition fees to study architecture than to study anthropology, even though an anthropology degree may take less time to complete. The economic value of architecture is higher because of the prospects of better-paying jobs after graduation.

Economic value does not just refer to the monetary value attached to a product. It also refers to the amount of time or another sacrifice an individual is willing to put in to acquire a product or service. In the case of free services offered by governments, such as food vouchers or medical services, there is often a sacrifice to be made, such as enduring long queues to access the service. The economic value of such a service is determined by the number of people seeking that service and the amount of time they are willing to devote to access it. If a government service is free but there are few people going out to seek it, then the economic value attached to it is low.

Economic value is not static. It changes as factors that determine it continue changing. If new products come into the market, the economic value of similar products may go down. Price changes and changes in ingredients may also make the perceived value of a product increase or decrease.