Theories of value and economic crises: revisiting Maurice Dobb

This paper reviews two areas of Maurice Dobb's contributions to the history of economic thought, specifically his essay The Requirements of a Theory of Value and various writings on the classical perspectives of economic crises. The first section provides a biography of Dobb, the second examines the requirements Dobb felt a theory of value must fulfill to be considered adequate, followed by a historical recount of the origins of the two main competing theories, the Labor Theory and the Utility Theory, as well as a discussion of how each theory succeeded or failed to meet these requirements. The third section discusses how economic crises were viewed by political economists from Adam Smith to Karl Marx, with special attention paid to the rate of profit, proportionality, and specific characteristics of capitalism that make it an ideology prone to periodic disruptions.