ABSTRACT
The identification of the subjective scale of values with the external action of the purchase at a price, dictated by the market and beyond the control of the individual, represents an attempt at moral justification. The law of diminishing marginal utility makes it possible to assume that the individual can reach an equilibrium in respect to the consumption and acquisition of a commodity. The ideal of rational economic conduct is also incompatible with luxurious consumption. The rational economic man has to distribute his resources not only between his various present needs but also between present and future needs. Not only the consumer and the housewife but also the working individual behave according to the code of rational economic conduct: The simplest case of balance or equilibrium between desire and effort is found when a person satisfies one of his wants by his own direct work.
