| OCR Text |
Show 50 D'E :FINITIONS OF \VEALTH. [ CH. I. some difficulty in the definition of \vcalth, and of productive labour; bu.t that this ~ifficu.lty sho~ld not deter us fron1 adopting any classifications w htch are really useful in conducting inquiry; that in treatino- of the nature and causes of the wealth of nation; a distinction bet\veen the different sources of o-ratification and the different kinds of labour 0 seems to be not only highly useful, but almost ab-solutely necessary; andconsequ~ntly ~hatwe.should be satisfied with the best classification wh1ch we can get on these subjects, although it may 11ot in ·all its parts be unobjectionable. ( 5·1 ) ON THE NATURE AND MEASURES OF VALUE.- SECTION I. Of the different Sorts of Value. MosT writers in treating of the nature of -value,. have considered it as having t\iVO different meanings, one, value in use, and the other, value in exchange.. It n1ay be questioned vvhether in fact \Ve are in the habit of using the term in the first of these two senses. We do not often hear of the value of air and water, although they are bodies in the highest degree useful, and indeed essentially necessary to the life and happiness ·of the hun1an race. It n1ay be admitted, however, that the tern1, taken perhaps in a n1etaphorical rather than a literal sense, may irnply, and is sometin1es used to inlply; whatever is necessary or beneficial to us, and in this sense may apply, vvithout impropriety, to a clear spring of water or to a fine air, although no question could arise respecting their value in exchange. As this 1neaning, therefore, of the word value has already been ad1nitted by n1any writers into the vocabulary of political econorny, and, although not n1uch sanctioned by custo1n, is justifiable in a metaphorical if not in a literal sense, it tnay not be E2 I |
