This perspective is key, in my view. In short, we have a supremely myopic and isolated view on what "accounting" is.
Value is defined based on counterfactuals, similar to opportunity cost -- if that thing didn't exist, what would be the effect on the local economy? My suspicion is that if you price all the chefs out of a downtown, no one will like spending their time (and therefore money) there, and it will die. So if the singular act of removing chefs collapses an entire economic engine, then their value is defined as the economic activity before their removal minus the economic activity after their removal.
Value is defined based on counterfactuals, similar to opportunity cost -- if that thing didn't exist, what would be the effect on the local economy? My suspicion is that if you price all the chefs out of a downtown, no one will like spending their time (and therefore money) there, and it will die. So if the singular act of removing chefs collapses an entire economic engine, then their value is defined as the economic activity before their removal minus the economic activity after their removal.