Author
David Ricardo
The same voice, gathered in one place.
On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, Excerpt 61
If the high price of corn were the effect, and not the cause of rent, price would be proportionally influenced as rents were high or low, and rent…
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On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, Excerpt 62
The same effects may however be produced when the wealth and population of a country are increased, if that increase is accompanied by such marked…
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On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, Excerpt 63
If a million of quarters of corn be necessary for the support of a given population, and it be raised on land of the qualities of No. 1, 2, 3; and if…
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On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, Excerpt 64
It is undoubtedly true, that the fall in the relative price of raw produce, in consequence of the improvement in agriculture, or rather in…
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On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, Excerpt 65
But improvements in agriculture are of two kinds: those which increase the productive powers of the land, and those which enable us to obtain its…
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On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, Excerpt 66
Without multiplying instances, I hope enough has been said to shew, that whatever diminishes the inequality in the produce obtained from successive…
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On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, Excerpt 67
But there are mines of various qualities, affording very different results, with equal quantities of labour. The metal produced from the poorest mine…
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On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, Excerpt 68
It will be sufficient to remark, that the same general rule which regulates the value of raw produce and manufactured commodities, is applicable also…
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On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, Excerpt 69
Like every other commodity, the value of the metals is subject to variation. Improvements may be made in the implements and machinery used in mining,…
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On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, Excerpt 70
It has therefore been justly observed, that however honestly the coin of a country may conform to its standard, money made of gold and silver is…
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On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, Excerpt 71
By the discovery of America and the rich mines in which it abounds, a very great effect was produced on the natural price of the precious metals.…
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On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, Excerpt 72
From whatever cause it may have proceeded, the effect has been so slow and gradual, that little practical inconvenience has been felt from gold and…
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On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, Excerpt 73
Having acknowledged the imperfections to which money made of gold and silver is liable as a measure of value, from the greater or less quantity of…
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On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, Excerpt 74
In making labour the foundation of the value of commodities, and the comparative quantity of labour which is necessary to their production, the…
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On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, Excerpt 75
In the ordinary course of events, there is no commodity which continues for any length of time to be supplied precisely in that decree of abundance,…
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On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, Excerpt 76
It is only in consequence of such variations, that capital is apportioned precisely, in the requisite abundance and no more, to the production of the…
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On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, Excerpt 77
A capitalist, in seeking profitable employment for his funds, will naturally take into consideration all the advantages which one occupation…
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On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, Excerpt 78
If from a consideration of these circumstances, the profits of stock should be so adjusted that in one trade they were 20, in another 25, and in…
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On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, Excerpt 79
Let us suppose that all commodities are at their natural price, and consequently that the profits of capital in all employments are exactly at the…
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On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, Excerpt 80
It is then the desire, which every capitalist has, of diverting his funds from a less to a more profitable employment, that prevents the market price…
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On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, Excerpt 81
In the 7th chap. of the Wealth of Nations, all that concerns this question is most ably treated. Having fully acknowledged the temporary effects…
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On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, Excerpt 82
Labour, like all other things which are purchased and sold, and which may be increased or diminished in quantity, has its natural and its market…
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On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, Excerpt 83
The power of the labourer to support himself, and the family which may be necessary to keep up the number of labourers, does not depend on the…
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On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, Excerpt 84
With the progress of society, the natural price of labour has always a tendency to rise, because one of the principal commodities by which its…
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On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, Excerpt 85
The natural price of all commodities excepting raw produce and labour has a tendency to fall, in the progress of wealth and population; for though,…
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On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, Excerpt 86
The market price of labour is the price which is really paid for it, from the natural operation of the proportion of the supply to the demand; labour…
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On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, Excerpt 87
It is when the market price of labour exceeds its natural price, that the condition of the labourer is flourishing and happy, that he has it in his…
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On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, Excerpt 88
When the market price of labour is below its natural price, the condition of the labourers is most wretched: then poverty deprives them of those…
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On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, Excerpt 89
Notwithstanding the tendency of wages to conform to their natural rate, their market rate may, in an improving society, for an indefinite period,…
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On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, Excerpt 90
Capital is that part of the wealth of a country, which is employed in production, and consists of food, clothing, tools, raw material, machinery, &c.…
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On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, Excerpt 91
Capital may increase in quantity at the same time that its value rises. An addition may be made to the food and clothing of a country, at the same…
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On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, Excerpt 92
Or capital may increase without its value increasing, and even while its value is actually diminishing; not only may an addition be made to the…
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On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, Excerpt 93
In the first case, the natural price of wages, which always depends on the price of food, clothing, and other necessaries, will rise; in the second,…
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On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, Excerpt 94
In both cases too the market price of labour will rise above its natural price; and in both cases it will have a tendency to conform to its natural…
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On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, Excerpt 95
In the second case, the condition of the labourer will be very greatly improved; he will receive increased money wages, without having to pay any…
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On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, Excerpt 96
Thus, then, with every improvement of society, with every increase in its capital, the market wages of labour will rise; but the permanence of…
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On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, Excerpt 97
It is not to be understood that the natural price of wages, estimated even in food and necessaries, is absolutely fixed and constant. It varies at…
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On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, Excerpt 98
From manufactured commodities always falling, and raw produce always rising, with the progress of society, such a disproportion in their relative…
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On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, Excerpt 99
In different stages of society, the accumulation of capital, or of the means of employing labour, is more or less rapid, and must in all cases depend…
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On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, Excerpt 100
It has been calculated, that under favourable circumstances population may be doubled in twenty-five years; but under the same favourable…
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On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, Excerpt 101
In new settlements, where the arts and knowledge of countries far advanced in refinement are introduced, it is probable that capital has a tendency…
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On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, Excerpt 102
In those countries where there is abundance of fertile land, but where, from the ignorance, indolence, and barbarism of the inhabitants, they are…
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On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, Excerpt 103
Give to the Irish labourer a taste for the comforts and enjoyments which habit has made essential to the English labourer, and he would be then…
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On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, Excerpt 104
In the natural advance of society, the wages of labour will have a tendency to fall, as far as they are regulated by supply and demand; for the…
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On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, Excerpt 105
As population increases, these necessaries will be constantly rising in price, because more labour will be necessary to produce them. If, then, the…
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On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, Excerpt 106
Notwithstanding, then, that the labourer would be really worse paid, yet this increase in his wages would necessarily diminish the profits of the…
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On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, Excerpt 107
It appears, then, that the same cause which raises rent, namely, the increasing difficulty of providing an additional quantity of food with the…
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On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, Excerpt 108
But there is this essential difference between the rise of rent and the rise of wages. The rise in the money value of rent is accompanied by an…
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On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, Excerpt 109
These then are the laws by which wages are regulated, and by which the happiness of far the greatest part of every community is governed. Like all…
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On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, Excerpt 110
This pernicious tendency of these laws is no longer a mystery, since it has been fully developed by the able hand of Mr. Malthus; and every friend to…
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On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, Excerpt 111
It is a truth which admits not a doubt, that the comforts and well being of the poor cannot be permanently secured without some regard on their part,…
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On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, Excerpt 112
The nature of the evil points out the remedy. By gradually contracting the sphere of the poor laws; by impressing on the poor the value of…
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On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, Excerpt 113
The profits of stock in different employments, having been shewn to bear a proportion to each other, and to have a tendency to vary all in the same…
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On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, Excerpt 114
We have seen that the price[10] of corn is regulated by the quantity of labour necessary to produce it, with that portion of capital which pays no…
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On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, Excerpt 115
Supposing corn and manufactured goods always to sell at the same price, profits would be high or low in proportion as wages were low or high. But…
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On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, Excerpt 116
If a manufacturer always sold his goods for the same money, for 1000_l._ for example, his profits would depend on the price of the labour necessary…
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On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, Excerpt 117
If both the manufacturer and farmer employed ten men, on wages rising from 24_l._ to 25_l._ per annum. per man, the whole sum paid by each would be…
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On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, Excerpt 118
The remaining quantity of the produce of the land, after the landlord and labourer are paid, necessarily belongs to the farmer, and constitutes the…
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On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, Excerpt 119
It may be said for example, that when corn rose from 4_l._ to 10_l._, the 180 quarters obtained from the best land would sell for 1800_l._ instead of…
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On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, Excerpt 120
In the first place, the price of corn would rise only in proportion to the increased difficulty of growing it on land of a worse quality.
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