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I believe the "value" being referred to here is social rather than financial.

Ya know, most people would agree for you until you ask them to pay for the stuff they call a "social good."

I went with my fiance last Christmas to donate food and money to a local food bank. She got teary when she saw were so many people waiting to get a basket of food.

I saw a bunch of people playing games on smartphones.

Money can serve as a rough indicator of social value. For example, based on pay, society does not value teachers very much.

Teachers actually make decent money. We clearly don't value soldiers and McDonalds workers. Wait - then how come we're so violent and fat?

Nevermind.

We're so violent that the rate of violent crimes has steadily decreased since 1994.

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