<p>Value is frequently understood as a synonym for low price, but it more accurately describes the relationship between the benefits the customer receives from a product and its price: the greater the value, the higher the price. Therefore, an expensive product should yield proportional benefits. It is too often the case, however that an expensive product is also the least beneficial, while a beneficial product may be too expensive to be useful to the majority of customers.</p>
<p>Therefore, is price necessarily the reflection of value?</p>
<p>My response:</p>
<p>The question “Is price necessarily a reflection of value?” suggests that price may not be analogous to worth. In other words, a costly commodity may be the least advantageous, while a valuable article may be too high-priced to be useful. In my opinion, expensive does not always correspond with usefulness. Throughout society, humanity, and in life, the evidence to support my viewpoint is pervasive.
Consider the case of Hollingsworth v. Perry, a Supreme Court case decided on June 25, 2013. An unlikely bipartisanship, made up of Theodore Olsen and David Boies, worked diligently and without pay to overrule Proposition 8, a Californian amendment banning same-sex marriage. They believed that the right for homosexual couples to marry trumped a paycheck. Their pro bono (literally “for good” in Latin) work has changed the lives of tens of thousands, for 18,000 same-sex marriages took place after the ruling. The price the lawyers were paid was $0, but the value of allowing a monumental amount of couples to wed is priceless.
Another example is provided by the 1903 Louisiana Purchase; an acquisition by the United States of America of 828,000 square miles from France’s Emperor, Napoleon Bonaparte. Thomas Jefferson accepted Napoleon’s asking price of a mere $15 million. For only 3 cents an acre, the Louisiana Purchase doubled the size of the nation and today makes up 15 of our phenomenal states. The United States would not be the superpower they are today if it wasn’t for this inexpensive procurement.
As a final vivid example, consider Jay Gatsby’s ostentatious parties in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel “The Great Gatsby”, written in Long Island in 1925. Gatsby is famed for his ornate, extravagant parties in his West Egg mansion. He spends an inordinate amount of time and money preparing these parties, but when the party actually commences, he hides in his room and feels lonely. He does not enjoy his own lavish affairs, even though the attendees speculate that Gatsby lives an idyllic life because of his wealth.
Clearly the above examples show that the monetary cost is not a manifestation of importance. The accession of the Louisiana Purchase was low-cost, and without it, the United States would be an irrelevant, small country, instead of the vast and formidable nation it is today. Without the pro bono work of Theodore Olsen and David Boies, infatuated same-sex couples across the state of California would not be able to wed. Only by realizing that high price is not parallel to quality can humanity begin to thrive.</p>