On The Principles of Political Economy, and TaxationRicardo, David
General
On The Principles of Political Economy, and Taxation
Ricardo, David
Economics
Suppose that to afford the usual and general profits of stock, the price
of corn should in England be 4_l._ per quarter; it could not then be
exported to foreign countries where it sold for 3_l._ 15_s._ per
quarter. But if a bounty of 10_s._ per quarter were given on
exportation, it could be sold in the foreign market at 3_l._ 10_s._, and
consequently the same profit would be afforded to the corn grower,
whether he sold it at 3_l._ 10_s._ in the foreign, or at 4_l._ in the
home market.
A bounty then, which should lower the price of British corn in the
foreign country, below the cost of producing corn in that country, would
naturally extend the demand for British, and diminish the demand for
their own corn. This extension of demand for British corn could not fail
to raise its price for a time in the home market, and during that time
to prevent also its falling so low in the foreign market as the bounty
has a tendency to effect. But the causes which would thus operate on the
market price of corn in England would produce no effect whatever on its
natural price, on its real cost of production. To grow corn would
neither require more labour nor more capital, and, consequently, if the
profits of the farmer's stock were before only equal to the profits of
the stock of other traders, they will, after the rise of price, be
considerably above them. By raising the profits of the farmer's stock,
the bounty will operate as an encouragement to agriculture, and capital
will be withdrawn from manufactures to be employed on the land, till the
enlarged demand for the foreign market has been supplied, when the price
of corn will again fall in the home market to its natural and necessary
price, and profits will be again at their ordinary and accustomed level.
The increased supply of grain operating on the foreign market, will also
lower its price in the country to which it is exported, and will thereby
restrict the profits of the exporter to the lowest rate at which he can
afford to trade.
The ultimate effect then of a bounty on the exportation of corn, is not
to raise or to lower the price in the home market, but to lower the
price of corn to the foreign consumer--to the whole extent of the
bounty, if the price of corn had not before been lower in the foreign,
than in the home market--and in a less degree, if the price in the home
had been above the price in the foreign market.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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