What is value, and is there a way to measure it objectively?

What makes something valuable? A painting may remain overlooked for centuries before selling for millions after its creator's death. People have been owned, traded, or inherited, and a dog can be assigned a price. The easy answer is that value is subjective. One man’s trash, another man’s treasure. Right? We don’t all want or need the same things, so value is just a matter of preference with a…