Economic value can refer to either value in use or value in exchange.

Economic value can refer to either value in use or value in exchange.

• For example, water has high value in use but due to an excess supply may have a low price or be free for the taking. 
• Diamonds, in contrast, have high value in exchange due to their real or artificially-managed low supply relative to demand. 

The great 'paradox of value' was obvious when contrasting the useless dearness of the diamond to the cheapness of the water without which we cannot live.   A start is supposed to have been made at connecting value to a general theory of utility.  The apparent paradox between the value of water and diamonds is resolved by the difference between total utility and marginal utility.