Frédéric Bastiat：Economic Sophisms, Excerpt 88

Were the porter who carries water to my house to be paid in proportion to the _absolute utility_ of water, my whole fortune would be insufficient to remunerate him. But I pay him in proportion to the exertion he makes. If he charges more, others will do the work, or, if necessary, I will do it myself. Water, in truth, is not the subject of our bargain, but the labour of carrying it. This view of the matter is so important, and the conclusions which I am about to deduce from it throw so much light on the question of the freedom of international exchanges, that I deem it necessary to elucidate it by other examples.

Source： https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/44145
Locator：Excerpt 88 · Verified：2026-10-19 · Verification：Short excerpt

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