{"product_id":"2940012571731","title":"ESSAYS ON SOME UNSETTLED QUESTIONS OF POLITICAL ECONOMY","description":"CONTENTS.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eESSAY I.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOf the Laws of Interchange between Nations; and the Distribution of the\u003cbr\u003eGains of Commerce among the Countries of the Commercial World\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eESSAY II.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOf the Influence of Consumption upon Production\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eESSAY III.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOn the Words Productive and Unproductive\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eESSAY IV.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOn Profits, and Interest\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eESSAY V.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOn the Definition of Political Economy; and on the Method of\u003cbr\u003eInvestigation proper to it\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eESSAY I.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOF THE LAWS OF INTERCHANGE BETWEEN NATIONS; AND THE DISTRIBUTION OF THE\u003cbr\u003eGAINS OF COMMERCE AMONG THE COUNTRIES OF THE COMMERCIAL WORLD.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOf the truths with which political economy has been enriched by Mr.\u003cbr\u003eRicardo, none has contributed more to give to that branch of knowledge\u003cbr\u003ethe comparatively precise and scientific character which it at present\u003cbr\u003ebears, than the more accurate analysis which he performed of the nature\u003cbr\u003eof the advantage which nations derive from a mutual interchange of their\u003cbr\u003eproductions. Previously to his time, the benefits of foreign trade were\u003cbr\u003edeemed, even by the most philosophical enquirers, to consist in\u003cbr\u003eaffording a vent for surplus produce, or in enabling a portion of the\u003cbr\u003enational capital to replace itself with a profit. The futility of the\u003cbr\u003etheory implied in these and similar phrases, was an obvious consequence\u003cbr\u003efrom the speculations of writers even anterior to Mr. Ricardo. But it\u003cbr\u003ewas he who first, in the chapter on Foreign Trade, of his immortal\u003cbr\u003e_Principles of Political Economy and Taxation_, substituted for the\u003cbr\u003eformer vague and unscientific, if not positively false, conceptions with\u003cbr\u003eregard to the advantage of trade, a philosophical exposition which\u003cbr\u003eexplains, with strict precision, the nature of that advantage, and\u003cbr\u003eaffords an accurate measure of its amount.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHe shewed, that the advantage of an interchange of commodities between\u003cbr\u003enations consists simply and solely in this, that it enables each to\u003cbr\u003eobtain, with a given amount of labour and capital, a greater quantity of\u003cbr\u003eall commodities taken together. This it accomplishes by enabling each,\u003cbr\u003ewith a quantity of one commodity which has cost it so much labour and\u003cbr\u003ecapital, to purchase a quantity of another commodity which, if produced\u003cbr\u003eat home, would have required labour and capital to a greater amount.\u003cbr\u003eTo render the importation of an article more advantageous than its\u003cbr\u003eproduction, it is not necessary that the foreign country should be able\u003cbr\u003eto produce it with less labour and capital than ourselves. We may even\u003cbr\u003ehave a positive advantage in its production: but, if we are so far\u003cbr\u003efavoured by circumstances as to have a still greater positive advantage\u003cbr\u003ein the production of some other article which is in demand in the\u003cbr\u003eforeign country, we may be able to obtain a greater return to our labour\u003cbr\u003eand capital by employing none of it in producing the article in which\u003cbr\u003eour advantage is least, but devoting it all to the production of that in\u003cbr\u003ewhich our advantage is greatest, and giving this to the foreign country\u003cbr\u003ein exchange for the other. It is not a difference in the _absolute_ cost\u003cbr\u003eof production, which determines the interchange, but a difference in the\u003cbr\u003e_comparative_ cost. It may be to our advantage to procure iron from\u003cbr\u003eSweden in exchange for cottons, even although the mines of England as\u003cbr\u003ewell as her manufactories should be more productive than those of\u003cbr\u003eSweden; for if we have an advantage of one-half in cottons, and only an\u003cbr\u003eadvantage of a quarter in iron, and could sell our cottons to Sweden at\u003cbr\u003ethe price which Sweden must pay for them if she produced them herself,\u003cbr\u003ewe should obtain our iron with an advantage of one-half, as well as our\u003cbr\u003ecottons. We may often, by trading with foreigners, obtain their\u003cbr\u003ecommodities at a smaller expense of labour and capital than they cost\u003cbr\u003eto the foreigners themselves. The bargain is still advantageous to the\u003cbr\u003eforeigner, because the commodity which he receives in exchange, though\u003cbr\u003eit has cost us less, would have cost him more. As often as a country\u003cbr\u003epossesses two commodities, one of which it can produce with less labour,\u003cbr\u003ecomparatively to what it would cost in a foreign country, than the\u003cbr\u003eother; so often it is the interest of the country to export the first\u003cbr\u003ementioned commodity and to import the second; even though it might be\u003cbr\u003eable to produce both the one and the other at a less expense of labour\u003cbr\u003ethan the foreign country can produce them, but not less in the same\u003cbr\u003edegree; or might be unable to produce either except at a greater\u003cbr\u003eexpense, but not greater in the same degree.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOn the contrary, if it produces both commodities with greater facility,\u003cbr\u003eor both with greater difficulty, and greater in exactly the same degree,\u003cbr\u003ethere will be no motive to interchange.","brand":"SAP","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47069413572848,"sku":"2940012571731","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940012571731_p0.jpg?v=1763570143","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940012571731","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}