On The Principles of Political Economy, and TaxationRicardo, David
General
On The Principles of Political Economy, and Taxation
Ricardo, David
Economics
[37] In another place he says, that "whatever extension of
the foreign market can be occasioned by the bounty, must,
in every particular year, be altogether at the expense of
the home market; as every bushel of corn which is exported
by means of the bounty, and which would not have been
exported without the bounty, would have remained in the
home market to increase the consumption, and to lower the
price of that commodity. The corn bounty, it is to be
observed, as well as every other bounty upon exportation,
imposes two different taxes upon the people; first, the
tax which they are obliged to contribute, in order to pay
the bounty; and, secondly, the tax which arises from the
advanced price of the commodity in the home market, and
which, as the whole body of the people are purchasers of
corn, must in this particular commodity be paid by the
whole body of the people. In this particular commodity,
therefore, this second tax is by much the heaviest of the
two." "For every five shillings, therefore, which they
contribute to the payment of the first tax, they must
contribute six pounds four shillings to the payment of the
second." "The extraordinary exportation of corn,
therefore, occasioned by the bounty, not only in every
particular year diminishes the home, just as much as it
extends the foreign market and consumption, but, by
restraining the population and industry of the country,
its final tendency is to stunt and restrain the gradual
extension of the home market, and thereby, in the long
run, rather to diminish than to augment the whole market
and consumption of corn."
[38] The same opinion is held by M. Say. Vol. ii. p. 335.
[39] See Chap. on Rent.
[40] M. Say supposes the advantage of the manufacturers at
home to be more than temporary. "A Government which
absolutely prohibits the importation of certain foreign
goods, establishes a monopoly _in favour of those_ who
produce such commodities at home, _against those_ who
consume them; in other words, those at home who produce
them having the exclusive privilege of selling them, may
elevate their price above the natural price; and the
consumers at home, not being able to obtain them
elsewhere, are obliged to purchase them at a higher
price." Vol. i. p. 201.
But how can they permanently support the market price of
their goods above the natural price, when every one of
their fellow citizens is free to enter into the trade?
they are guaranteed against foreign, but not against home
competition. The real evil arising to the country from
such monopolies, if they can be called by that name, lies,
not in raising the market price of such goods, but in
raising their real and natural price. By increasing the
cost of production, a portion of the labour of the country
is less productively employed.
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