Robert Zuckerkandl, Review of Bernhard Rost’s Die Wert- und Preistheorie (1909)

Robert Zuckerkandl’s review assesses Rost’s attempt to supplement subjective value theory, distinguishing the book’s substantial historical contribution from its less persuasive theoretical argument. Rost reached the problem of value and price through investigations into interest on capital. Although he preferred subjective to objective value theory, he regarded its existing formulation as incomplete. Zuckerkandl immediately notes the discrepancy between this constructive ambition and the book’s allocation of space: more than two-thirds consists of a critical history of doctrines.

The historical section treats value and price theories separately within “old British-German” and “new British-Austrian” traditions, tracing their literary origins and assigning exposition and criticism to distinct sections. Zuckerkandl’s appreciation is qualified but clear:

Die Ausführungen des Verfassers bieten mannigfaches Interesse, namentlich auch für die neueste Zeit.

English translation: The author's expositions offer manifold interest, particularly also for the most recent period.

His account then turns to Rost’s proposed corrections to subjective theory. Rost argues that objective exchange value depends not simply on individual needs and valuations but on a general social judgment. Society shapes the needs of its members; the prevailing judgment may even be prejudicial rather than grounded in the matter itself, yet remains primary in determining value. Zuckerkandl presents this as Rost’s position without endorsing it.

The central theoretical move is a distinction between momentary purchasing power, generated by current supply and demand, and enduring purchasing power independent of incidental market conditions. Rejecting cost theory as “mechanical,” Rost seeks upper and lower limits for this enduring value under what he defines as normal supply-and-demand conditions. Zuckerkandl declines a detailed examination but states his verdict explicitly:

Eine eingehende Auseinandersetzung mit diesen Darlegungen — und nur um eine solche könnte es sich nach der Natur des Problems handeln — muß hier unterbleiben; ich kann nur sagen, daß ich mich von der Richtigkeit des Vorgetragenen nicht habe überzeugen können.

English translation: A thorough engagement with these expositions — and, given the nature of the problem, only such an engagement could be in question — must be omitted here; I can only say that I have not been able to convince myself of the correctness of what is presented.

This reservation is followed by a criticism of exposition: elaborate terminology burdens the reader, while the decisive discussion of enduring value and its level is compressed and lacks explanatory examples. The result is difficulty not only in following the theory but in knowing whether it has been understood correctly. The review’s significance lies in this carefully bounded judgment: Zuckerkandl recognizes the interest of Rost’s doctrinal history while withholding assent from a proposed account of socially conditioned, enduring exchange value whose central claims remain insufficiently clarified.