The Principles of Economics, with Applications to Practical ProblemsFetter, Frank A. (Frank Albert)
General
The Principles of Economics, with Applications to Practical Problems
Fetter, Frank A. (Frank Albert)
Economics
1. _Many forms of chance are inseparable from the individual
enterprise._ There are what may be called natural chances chances,
arising from the uncertainties of the seasons, from rainfall, heat,
hail, storm, flood, lightning, land-slides. Such chances must be taken
both by the small enterpriser and by the large. In an earlier condition
of society natural chance almost dominated industry, and it still
remains and must always remain an important factor to deal with. There
are political chances, as war and riot; as legislation on money,
tariffs, credit, and business relations. These are caused, it is true,
by the action of men, but it is a collective action out of the control,
to a greater or less degree, of the individual--absolutely out of the
control of most individuals. Men of greater political influence can to
some extent control these chances, possibly in their own favor. There
are chances of carelessness causing fire, explosions, wrecks on
misplaced switches, and involving penalties and losses that must be met.
There is the chance of physical or mental collapse, as the sudden
insanity or the sudden death, unforeseen and unpreventable, of one
performing responsible duties. Sickness often wrecks the plans and the
fortune of a whole family. There are economic changes, such as those in
methods of production, in machinery, in methods of transportation; such
as the growth of fashions or the growth of population changing demand in
some directions and for some materials.
[Sidenote: Average of chances in each industry]
Some of these chances are more connected with money-lending, others with
manufacturing; some with agriculture, others with commerce; but all are
present in some degree in every industry. In the broadest view they are
not chances, for on the basis of experience it can be foretold that they
will occur to some one; but no individual can tell when and how they
will occur to him. A general average of chances in different lines of
business causes some to be called safe, others extra-hazardous. The
chance is averaged and added to the profit or gain of that industry, for
an extra-hazardous industry must in general afford a higher average of
profit in order to induce men to engage in it. It is folly to take a
risk without ascertaining its degree, so far as general experience
enables one to choose. But inasmuch and in as far as the gains and
losses fall unequally upon different individuals, income depends on
chance.
[Sidenote: Other chances artificial and avoidable]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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