The principles of economical philosophy by Macleod Henry Dunning 1821-

Author:Macleod, Henry Dunning, 1821- [from old catalog]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Economics
Publisher: London, Longmans, Green, Reader, and Dyer
Published: 1872-03-25T05:00:00+00:00

332 PRINCIPLES OP ECONOMICS. [Chap. V.

produces. And it is the reciprocal desire of each for the product of the other that gives rise to an exchange. Hence the concurrence of two mmds is essential to produce an exchange, or an Economic phenomenon. Each one wOl try to give as little as he can of his own product, and get as much as he can of the other's product. Hence when the exchange ultimately takes place, the quantity exchanged by each measures the intensity of his desire to obtain possession of the product of the oilier.

^ And hence the Quantity given by each is called the Value of

I" \ , the other.

z' .' , 20. All production is founded upon speculation. Producers ' ^ ^ f-' . * find out or think «f what other people want, and then they pro-' r duce. A constant supply of some tilings is wanted. Inventors hope that they may excite or create a desire, but it is no reason that people wiU buy, because others produce; and if none want or will buy what is produced, such an article has no valice. AU production, then, is founded on speculation, varying through all degrees of prudence, certainty, and risk. All producers speculate that there will not only be buyers who will want their products, but will want them to such a degree of intensity as to be willing to pay a sum at least sufficient to pay the cost of production, and a profit besides, sufficient to remunerate them for their time and trouble. Kow, the powers of consumption ^ / generally speaking are limited, but in most cases the powers of

^^^^' t- i I production are more easily extended, and the amount of value, '. , \ or the price, depends upon the proportion between the produc-/ ^-J / '.tion, or the supply, and the number of persons who are willing i to give an adequate price, or the consumption, and hence pro-

duction must always be adjusted to consumption, and not the reverse. Hence, also, we have this fundamental truth that Spbculation is thb hothsb of Pboduction, but Dbmand is

THE OmQTN of VaLUB.

21. Labour is in no case, whatever, the cause or foundation of value. No amount of Labour, or cost of production, can ever bestow or ensure value. In all cases whatever, it is because articles have great value, that great labour or great expense is expended in producing them. It is, then, universally the Result, and the result only, which has value, whether that

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v.- ,

S 19-23.] DEMAND THE SOLE CAUSE OP VALUE. 333

result be obtained by great or by little labour: although it is undoubtedly true, that valuable results are often associated with great labour or expense. Nevertheless, we must rigidly guard ourselves from thinking that it is the labour that confers the value. An able and skilful man may obtain a result of great value with comparatively little labour, and an inferior man may bestow many times the amount of

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