Positive Theory of Capital, Book 5, Chapter 4: The Technical Superiority of Present Goods, pp 260-272
I understand that investing the labour in a lengthier process will yield a higher output per labour invested.
I understand that the higher the output, the lower the marginal utility of the final produced good will be. But at the same time, as long as this marginal utility is positive, the total utility will rise, thus making a higher output always preferable over a lower output.
My question is this, why is the total utility calculated as the marginal utility times the product? Given that the individual has only one “unit” of labour to dispense with, in this case a month of labour, should not the value of the labour unit be the total utility of the product?
i.e, since if the individual were to lose this labour unit, he would not only lose the marginal utility times the product but all the higher utilities as well.
Ignoring the aspect of the time reducing the utility in perspective.