For a long time, an idea that seems intuitive, almost common sense, took hold: that things are worth the work they do. If something cost hours, effort and sacrifice, then it should be worth more. And if someone doesn't receive all that value, then there's exploitation. The problem is that reality doesn't work that way.
It is enough to look at any market to see that the value is not in the effort, but in the decision of the person who buys. A garment may have required days of work and yet no one would be interested in it. Instead, something simple to produce can become valuable if there are people willing to pay for it. It is not work that defines value, but rather the importance that each one attaches to what they receive
.This completely changes the way we understand the economy. Work doesn't create value by itself. What it does is respond to a value that already exists in people's minds. First someone wants something, then someone who organizes the resources to produce it appears. The order is exactly the opposite of what is often taught.
When this point is lost sight of, misdiagnoses appear. One begins to think that the employer earns because he takes something away from the worker, when in reality his profit depends on knowing what to produce, how to do it and for whom. It is not the one who exploits the most who exploits the most, but the one who best interprets what others value. You can hire the same people, use the same supplies, and still get completely different results depending on your decisions
.A simple example shows this clearly. Two products may require the same effort to manufacture, but one sells and the other doesn't. The work is identical, but the economic result is the opposite. So where is the difference? In choice, in anticipation, in the ability to understand what people want. That is the origin of the profit.
