Human value scales are inherently complex and involve an enormous volume and variety of data. Each consumer's value scale reflects his or her relative preferences among all possible goods, varying from moment to moment according to physical circumstances, knowledge, and desires. Producers' value scales include the costs of all factors of production, affected by many diverse and constantly changing circumstances: e. g., the relative abundances and scarcities of nature; existing stocks of goods; availabilities, disutilities, and physical outputs of different kinds of labor; and time preferences. They also reflect each producer's detailed knowledge of all the possible techniques ("recipes") of production. All of these value scales must be determined for every individual in an entire society and factored into economic calculations. So far as is rationally possible, changes in these value scales and in conditions must be predicted, and production plans must be modified accordingly.     

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