An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of NationsSmith, Adam
General
An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations
Smith, Adam
Economics
From 1595 to 1620, both inclusive, the average price of the quarter of
nine bushels of the best wheat, at Windsor market, appears, from the
accounts of Eton college, to have been L.2 : 1 : 6-9/13. From which sum,
neglecting the fraction, and deducting a ninth, or 4s. 7-1/3d., the
price of the quarter of eight bushels comes out to have been
L.1 : 16 : 10-2/3. And from this sum, neglecting likewise the fraction,
and deducting a ninth, or 4s. 1-1/9d., for the difference between the
price of the best wheat and that of the middle wheat, the price of the
middle wheat comes out to have been about L.1 : 12 : 8-8/9, or about six
ounces and one-third of an ounce of silver.
From 1621 to 1636, both inclusive, the average price of the same measure
of the best wheat, at the same market, appears, from the same accounts,
to have been L.2 : 10s.; from which, making the like deductions as in
the foregoing case, the average price of the quarter of eight bushels of
middle wheat comes out to have been L.1 : 19 : 6, or about seven ounces
and two-thirds of an ounce of silver.
_Third Period._--Between 1630 and 1640, or about 1636, the effect of the
discovery of the mines of America, is reducing the value of silver,
appears to have been completed, and the value of that metal seems never
to have sunk lower in proportion to that of corn than it was about that
time. It seems to have risen somewhat in the course of the present
century, and it had probably begun to do so, even some time before the
end of the last.
From 1637 to 1700, both inclusive, being the sixty-four last years of
the last century, the average price of the quarter of nine bushels of
the best wheat, at Windsor market, appears, from the same accounts, to
have been L.2 : 11 : 0-1/3, which is only 1s. 0-1/3d. dearer than it
had been during the sixteen years before. But, in the course of these
sixty-four years, there happened two events, which must have produced a
much greater scarcity of corn than what the course of the seasons would
otherwise have occasioned, and which, therefore, without supposing any
further reduction in the value of silver, will much more than account
for this very small enhancement of price.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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