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Show 450 ON THE 11\tiMEDIATE CAUSES [CU. VII. a state of things which rna~, and oft.en does last a fticient tin1e to produce the n1ost 1111portant re-su . . f h Its is alone and at once, a dec1s1ve proo· t at su ' ' l . h 1 . tl view of exchangeable value, \V 11c Ina (es 1t 1e d . . depend exclusively upon the cost of pro. uction_, 1s essentially incorrect, and utterly useless 111 solving: the great phenotnena which attend th~ progress of 'vealth. Mr. l{icardo seen1s to think that value cannot increase in one deparh11ent of produce \Vithout diD1inishin<>' it in son1e other.=K: This again tnay be true acc~·din()' to his vie\v of value, but is utterly b l . unfounded accordino· to that tnore enlargcc v1ew of exchangeable vafue which is estab~ished and confirn1ed by experience. If any foretgn po.~er were to send to a particular tnerchan.. t con11n?cbties of a new description which would sell In the London market for fifty thousand pounds, the wealth of such n1erchant would be increased to that extent; and who, I would ask, would Le the poorer for it? It is no doubt true that the pu~chasers of these connnodities may be obliged to 1 forego the use of son1e of the articles which they had before been in the habit of buying, t and so * It appears to me that if the two first scnte~ces in Mr. Ri· cardo's Chapter on Foreign Trade were well founded, there would be no such intercourse between n·ations. t This however w1. ll not necessan. 1y h appen. The greater temptatio'n offered t' o consumptl.O n n1ay I·n c1 u ce som e persons to spend what they otherwise would have saved, an d 1·1 1 m any case.s the wealth of the country, instead of su{fcn. ng b Y th'I S c·h anao c. WI 11 1 ' gain by it. The increased consumption, as far as I' t go.c~s ' WI 1o c-f cas1• 0n an I• ncrease of market pn•c rs anu-1 pro 11~ t s. The mcrcasc o SEC. VIII.] OF THE fROGRESS OF "'EALTH. 451 far in some quarters may diminish demand· but to counterbalance this ditninution, the en1~iched merchant will beco1ne a purchaser of additional goods to the amount perhaps of the" whole fifty thousand pounds, and thus prevent any o·eneral fall in the value of the native produce co~sun1ed in the country, while the V<;tlue of the foreign produce so consumed has increased to the amount of the whole of the ne,v produce imported. I see no difference between a present from abroad, and the unusual profits of a nevv foreign trade, in their . effects upon the wealth of a state. They are equally calculated to -increase the wealth of the community, Uy an increase both of the quantity and 'Value of the produce obtained. It will be said perhaps that, neither the people nor the money of the country having been by supposition increased, the value of the vvhole produce esti1nated in labour or money cannot be increased. With regard to labour I would observe that, when I speak of the value of the whole produce of a country being able to comn1and more labour than before, I do not mean to refer specifically to a greater nurnber of labourers, but to say that it could either purchase more at the old price, or pay the actual labourers higher ; and such a state of things, \vith a population which cannot i1nme-profits will soon restore the capital which for a short time had been diverted fron1 its destined office; and the country will be left with habits of greater consumption, and at the same time with proportionate means of supplying them. GG2 |
