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弗雷德里克·巴斯夏:经济诡辩·摘录 83

弗雷德里克·巴斯夏《经济诡辩》· Economic Sophisms · 投资

The new branch of industry at length reaches its normal state; in other words, the remuneration of printers ceases to be exceptionally high, and comes, like that of the copyist, to be _regulated by the ordinary rate of earnings_. Here we have production, as such, brought back to the point from which it started. And yet the invention is not the less an acquisition; the saving of time, of labour, of effort to produce a given result, that is, to produce a determinate number of copies, is not the less realized. But how does it show itself? In the cheapness of books. And to whose profit? To the profit of the consumer, of society, of the human race. The printers, who have thenceforth no exceptional merit, no longer receive exceptional remuneration. As men, as consumers, they undoubtedly participate in the advantages which the invention has conferred upon the community. But that is all. As printers, as producers, they have returned to the ordinary condition of the other producers of the country. Society pays them for their labour, and not for the utility of the invention. The latter has become the common and gratuitous heritage of mankind at large.

出处: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/44145
定位:Excerpt 83 · 核对日期:2026-10-19 · 核验:短摘录

白话

新技术刚出现时,从业者能赚超额利润,但竞争很快让收入回落到普通水平。这时发明的好处并没有消失,而是体现在产品变便宜上,让消费者和社会受益。比如印刷术普及后,印刷工不再有特殊高薪,但书价下降,人人买得起。所以判断一项技术进步的价值,不能看它让某个行业赚了多少钱,而要看它让最终使用者省了多少。对个人来说,如果你靠某项稀缺技能获得高收入,要意识到竞争会拉平差距,应提前把精力放在持续学习和创造新价值上,而不是守着旧优势。

上下文

巴斯夏在《经济诡辩》中用印刷术的例子说明:发明的好处最终会通过降价转移给消费者,而不是留在生产者手里。

今日一问

你目前赖以获得收入的优势,如果明天被普及,你靠什么继续创造价值?

公版作品;原文逐字取自 Project Gutenberg,仅摘录段落并附全书链接。

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