Capitalism; Imperialism; Saving and investment; Socialism
'It has been shown in the first Book, that the price of the greater part
of commodities resolves itself into three parts, of which one pays the
wages of the labour, another the profits of the stock, and a third the
rent of the land which had been employed in producing and bringing them
to market.... Since this is the case ... with regard to every particular
commodity, taken separately; it must be so with regard to all the
commodities which compose the whole annual produce of the land and
labour of every country, taken complexly. The whole price or
exchangeable value of that annual produce must resolve itself into the
same three parts, and be parcelled out among the different inhabitants
of the country, either as the wages of their labour, the profits of
their stock, or the rent of their land.'[63]
Here Smith hesitates and immediately below explains: 'But though the
whole value of the annual produce of the land and labour of every
country is thus divided among and constitutes a revenue to its different
inhabitants, yet as in the rent of a private estate we distinguish
between the gross rent and the neat rent, so may we likewise in the
revenue of all the inhabitants of a great country.
'The gross rent of a private estate comprehends whatever is paid by the
farmer; the neat rent, what remains free to the landlord after deducting
the expense of management, of repairs, and all other necessary charges;
or what, without hurting his estate, he can afford to place in his stock
reserved for immediate consumption, or to spend upon his table,
equipage, the ornaments of his house and furniture, his private
enjoyments and amusements. His real wealth is in proportion, not to his
gross, but to his neat rent.
'The gross revenue of all the inhabitants of a great country comprehends
the whole annual produce of their land and labour; the neat revenue,
what remains free to them after deducting the expense of maintaining,
first, their fixed, and secondly, their circulating capital, or what,
without encroaching upon their capital, they can place in their stock
reserved for immediate consumption, or spend upon their subsistence,
conveniences, and amusements. Their real wealth too is in proportion,
not to their gross, but to their neat revenue.'[64]
Here Smith introduces a portion of value which corresponds to constant
capital, only to eliminate it the very next moment by resolving it into
wages, profits, and rents. And in the end, the matter rests with this
explanation:
'As the machines and instruments of trade, etc. which compose the fixed
capital either of an individual or of a society, make no part either of
the gross or the neat revenue of either, so money, by means of which the
whole revenue of the society is regularly distributed among all its
different members, makes itself no part of that revenue.'[65]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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