The Elements of Political Economy |
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Adam Smith advantage agriculture Ahura Mazda amount ancient aptitudes Aristotle Belgium causes CHAPTER circulation coin colonies commerce commodities consumed consumption corn created crises cultivation Destutt de Tracy diminish division of labour earth economist emphyteusis employed employment England excessive exchange FACTORS OF PRODUCTION favourable Flemish communes France fruits gold greater hand human improve increase industry Influence interest J. S. Mill justice kind land laws Louis XIV machinery machines manufacturing means ment metal métayage million misery Montesquieu moral nations nature necessary needs nihil number of workmen object obtain organisation paid payment political economy population possession procure production of wealth Productiveness of Labour profit progress proportion proprietor prosperity quantity race rent reward rich rise Roman ruin says share shillings silver society soil supply taxes things tion toil trade utility wages Xenophon
Popular passages
Page 260 - ... the duty of erecting and maintaining certain public works and certain public institutions, which it can never be for the interest of any individual, or small number of individuals, to erect and maintain ; because the profit could never repay the expense to any individual or small number of individuals, though it may frequently do much more than repay it to a great society.
Page 46 - Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep : so shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth, and thy want as an armed man.
Page 46 - Go to the ant, thou sluggard ; consider her ways, and be wise: which having no guide, overseer, or ruler, provideth her meat in the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest.
Page 259 - According to the system of natural liberty, the sovereign has only three duties to attend to — three duties of great importance, indeed, but plain and intelligible to common understandings: first, the duty of protecting the society from the violence and invasion of other independent societies; secondly, the duty of protecting, as far as possible, every member of the society from the injustice or oppression of every other member of it or the duty of establishing an exact administration of justice;...
Page 47 - ... till me with the left arm and the right, with the right arm and the left, hither shall people ever come and beg for bread ; here shall I ever go on bearing, bringing forth all manner of food, bringing forth profusion of corn.
Page 232 - Leave it alone;" and this reply of his has become the watchword of the supporters of freedom of trade, or, as it is sometimes called, free exchange. What, in fact, can be more natural than to allow every one to buy and sell where he can do so most advantageously, whether in or out of his own country ? To raise a revenue, a State is still justified in imposing custom dues on the importation of certain foreign goods, though the tax is a bad one; but to establish these duties under the pretext of protecting...
Page 152 - They are, in fact, men. They retire at night into their dens where they live on black bread, water and roots. They spare other human beings the trouble of sowing, ploughing and harvesting, and thus should not be in want of the bread they have planted.
Page 53 - The private soldiers fight and die, to advance the wealth and luxury of the great; and they are called masters of the world, while they have not a foot of ground in their possession.
Page 235 - ... profit. Do not, therefore, limit it by the frontiers of a state, but extend it from country to country. Monopoly begets sloth, and protection, routine. On the other hand, the manufacturer who is forced to carry everything to perfection in endeavoring to keep his hold of the home market will conquer that of the world. A railroad uniting two countries facilitates exchanges. Custom dues on foreign goods impede them. Yet the same men at the same time support two policies, the results of which are...
Page 3 - This definition is altogether inaccurate. The modes of producing wealth are described in industrial manuals or treatises on agriculture; the mode of its distribution is the subject of statistics; the account of its consumption, the history of the daily life of the various nations." Though M. de Laveleye's general tendency corresponds to that of the German writers mentioned, he narrows somewhat the scope of the science, in confining it to the search for laws to promote human welfare, and he certainly...