Rural Wealth and Welfare: Economic Principles Illustrated and Applied in Farm LifeFairchild, Geo. T. (George Thompson)
Science
Rural Wealth and Welfare: Economic Principles Illustrated and Applied in Farm Life
Fairchild, Geo. T. (George Thompson)
Agriculture -- Economic aspects; Economics
Since improvements in method so constantly lessen the normal value of
products, Mr. Carey made the effort to measure value by “cost of
reproduction,” meaning, I suppose, that any article produced at any time
and place is likely to bring in any market a price equal to the cost of
similar articles produced under the most improved methods anywhere used in
the present. This, of course, does not apply to articles not desired in
the present, because deteriorated or out of fashion or less useful than
some new device for a similar use, but only to those articles of full
utility in having all the qualities needed to meet the desire of
purchasers. Even a diamond like the famous “Kohinoor” would have its
almost priceless value reduced to the cost of securing similar jewels
equally desirable if a process of crystallizing carbon were suddenly
discovered. It is easy to see, then, that cost measures value only so far
as it is directly connected with the available supply in any market. Under
ordinary circumstances the supply cannot be increased unless the cost is
met, but the rule is modified by any peculiarity of season, or conditions
of trade, or production by cheaper methods or cheaper labor, or by the
changing wants of a community. The application of all these influences may
be studied under the so-called law of supply and demand.
_Supply and demand; markets._—The law of supply and demand is only a
statement of the general fact that market value tends to increase with
increase of demand and to decrease as the supply to meet the demand
increases. It must be understood that a market means a particular spot
where buyers and sellers of any article of commerce meet at a particular
time. The supply is the amount offered for sale at a given price. The
demand is the amount buyers will purchase at the same price.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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