Malakhova N. B.,
Doctor of economics, professor,
Tretiak D. V., postgraduate
Kharkiv national university of economics & Fachhochschule Technikum-Wien, Vienna

Prerequisites for analysis of value as an institution. Value as economic phenomenon has big historical traditions, but it is not yet in the center of research attention of institutionalism. In the market system, commodity value is the basis of rational exchange and objective laws of economic equilibrium. As objectively existing pattern of market relations, value is also necessary as a social institution. Indeed, the lack of clear procedures for value measuring leads to the accumulation of economic non-equilibrium states, that is, it is the reason of crises acceleration at micro and macro levels. Since value contains the criterion of economic balance and sustainability of any economic system, without handling of value at micro-level expense nature of economy with the corresponding rise in prices and monopoly of commodity markets increases.
Notion "value” is deeply rooted as in traditional concepts (labor theory of value and neoclassical marginalism) and in the publications of the last decade. Modern research of value problems are made by Russian scientists J. Osipov, V. Medvedev, V. Afanasiev, Ukrainian scientists A. Grytsenko, T. Artemova, O. Batura, O. Vrublevska, V. Kyrylenko, V. Stoliarov, M. Pavlyshenko, U.S. scientists M. Scott, M. Friedman, N. Ordway, G. Harrison, E.-W. Hall, British scientists J. Harvey, D. Patinkin, A. Cotrell.
The objective of this article is to connect in institutionalism two historical roots of value in a single alternative value theory based on a new approach to marginalism. Category of value, derived as AC function, is used here to overcome the historical limitations of neoclassical microeconomics.
Research results. Three following bases are used relating to classical labor theory of value. 1. Commodity value is socially necessary labor expenditure. 2. Value and price form the sides of one phenomenon: value is the basis for price and price is a form of value. 3. Classics supposed to determine value as an average labor inputs for the product, made by enterprises competing in the industry or market, that is, a few manufacturers are needed to calculate value that during markets diversification and post-industrial economy is becoming increasingly unrealistic.
The following conclusions are summarized from neoclassical paradigm: 1. Value is a form of price, which, in turn, occurs when supply and demand concur with each other in the act of goods purchase and sale. 2. Price is an alternative to utility, which the buyer rejected for purchasing this product. 3. In the common market reality price is presented as an attribute of the commodity unit and value is a characteristic of the entire purchase.
Alternatively of the proposed new marginal approach is as follows. 1. Value is a function of the socially necessary costs AC, analytically modeled using the trend of marginal costs MC at a particular enterprise. 2. Value reflects society interest in any particular production, and social rationality is a third party in every act of purchase and sale. 3. Value and price are two different phenomena in one commodity, even though mathematically they are inextricably linked in the production function of any real enterprise as a function of AC and MC. Schedule and analytical form of the system model of the production function at micro level are developed in the publications (N. B. Malakhova, A. P. Dolzhykova, 2010) and presented on the web-site www.malahova.at.ua.
According to the system model of the production function value is a function of socially necessary costs AC of a real company, on conditions that they are modeled under the laws of perfect competition in the public interest for actual conditions of imperfect competitive environment. The following statements are evidence that the function of AC is a function of social utility of a particular product released at the enterprise. 1. There is no perfect competition in real housekeeping conditions. In the environment of imperfect competition, market demand function is always imposed (subordinated, suppressed, totally controlled) by the seller and has no self-importance, power equivalent to power supply functions. In fact, firms replaced demand function by strategies of advertising and competition for monopoly advantage. Function of market demand has no objective, independent, autonomous and equal nature. 2. Public utility and public demand in a particular product are integrally reflected with function AC (t), calculated from trend level of actual costs MC (t) of each enterprise. Public demand is the basis of equivalent exchange of commodities in the market system. 3. All modern theories of competition and enterprise economy are based on axioms of perfect competition and profitability as performance criteria, ignoring the absolute necessary condition for the coincidence MC=AC=MR=AR=D. 4. If monopoly behavior of the company has unexpensive mechanism, it can be modeled according to the laws of perfect competition for the enterprise, notably, MC=AC. 5. If goods exchange takes place at value basis, social utility of production will appear, but conditions for rent-seeking behavior of enterprises will disappear. 6. At equilibrium of three parties interests in purchase and sale equilibrium is reached at micro and macro levels.
Example of making a model of value function AC (t) for enterprise-monopolist Kharkiv Underground gave the following results that are important for enterprise management in the public interest. 1. Function of current expenses are revealed for a given company: MC=0,0963t2-0,4573t+1,13 when R2=0,88. 2. Function of socially necessary costs is modeled from MC: AC=0,0321t2-0,229t+0,13 when R2=1,0. 3. Identified in 2004–2009 extreme point in the minimum MC=AC=0.736 UAH/pass would mean the coincidence of interests of society, passengers and enterprise, maintained in the fares. This level of fare would cover actual costs and would provide sufficient income in 30% when unexpense mechanism is acting. However, such a mechanism is not found yet. But it can be suggested as an important economic institution of government regulation according to our model. 4) Value function AC(t) limits monopoly rents and claims of vendors to an infinite increase in prices. 5) The gap between MC and AC after the point of intersection shows the contribution of the enterprise in inflation blowing up in the society. Thus, value as phenomenon is not visible, but can be detected only analytically from the MC(t) equation. Value function AC(t) in fact denotes institutional implementation of unexpense mechanism for monopoly enterprise in the public interest.