Which determinate of value is described as "to be useful"?

• A. Demand
• B. Utility
• C. Scarcity
• D. Conformity

Answer: (B)

Utility is the determinate of value that captures usefulness—the satisfaction or desirability a person gets from a good. The more useful something is to someone, the higher its utility and the more value they place on it. This explains why value can be subjective and vary from person to person, since different individuals find different things useful. The idea of marginal utility also helps: the first units of a good often provide more satisfaction, so value tends to reflect that initial usefulness more strongly. The other terms don’t describe usefulness itself—demand relates to how much people will buy at a price, scarcity to limited resources, and conformity to adherence to norms—so they don’t fit the description of being “useful.”