Wealth of Nations Home
Book I
Chapter I
Chapter II
Chapter III
Chapter VI
Chapter V
Chapter VI
Chapter VII
Chapter VIII
Chapter IX
Chapter X
Chapter XI
|
Chapter
VII
OF THE NATURAL AND MARKET PRICE OF
COMMODITIES
"When the quantity of any commodity which is brought
to
market falls
short of the effectual demand, all those who are willing to pay...
cannot be supplied with the quantity which they want... Some of them
will be willing to give more. A competition will begin among them, and
the market price will rise... When the quantity brought to market
exceeds the effectual demand, it cannot be all sold to those
who
are willing to pay the whole value of the rent, wages, and profit which
must be paid in order to bring it thither... The market price will
sink..."
To paraphrase Smith, and the first part of this Chapter,
when
demand
exceeds supply, the price goes up. When the supply exceeds demand, the
price goes down.
He then goes on to comment on the different avenues that
people can
take to generate a larger profit then normal. Some of those include:
finding a commodity that few other have that allows for a high profit,
and being able to keep that secret; Finding a way to produce a unique
commodity (The dyer who discovers a unique dye). He also states that
the former usually has a short lifespan of high profitability, and the
latter has a longer. He also notes that a monopoly is essentially the
same as the dyers trade secret, and can thus lead to high profitability
for a long time by keeping the supply below the effectual demand.
"A monoply lanted either to an individual or to a
trading
company has the same
effect as a secret in trade or manufactures. The monopolists, by
keeping the market constantly understocked, by never fully supplying
the effectual demand, sell their commodities much above the natural
price, and raise their emoluments, whether they consist in wages or
profit, greatly above their natural rate. The price of monopoly is upon
every occasion the highest which can be got. The natural price, or the
price of free competition, on the contrary, is the lowest which can be
taken, not upon every occasion, indeed, but for any considerable time
together. The one is upon every occasion the highest which can be
squeezed out of the buyers, or which, it is supposed, they will consent
to give: the other is the lowest which the sellers can commonly afford
to take, and at the same time continue their business."
Chapter VI<----
---->Chapter VIII
|