POLITICAL ECONOMY. 



"POLITICAL ECONOMY is a social science, 

 JL having for its subject the laws of wealth, and 

 more especially the laws of the production, ex- 

 change, and distribution of commodities possess- 

 ing exchangeable value. 



I. GENERAL VIEW OF THE SUBJECT. 

 Of Value and Exchangeable Value. 



In science, and even in popular acceptation, 

 the term wealth is not synonymous with money, 

 but comprehends whatever is necessary, useful, or 

 agreeable to man. 



There are various kinds of wealth, of all which 

 political economy takes cognisance, though it 

 does not need to treat of all in the same degree 

 of detail. 



Some objects of desire are incorporeal, as a 

 mental accomplishment ; others are material, as 

 clothing, food, &c. By many, the former are 

 regarded as beyond the province of political 

 economy. In truth, they fall under its laws ; 

 though there is an advantage, in an elementary 

 inquiry, in restricting attention to material objects. 



Many objects, necessary, useful, or agreeable to 

 man, are so abundantly diffused by nature, that 

 any one has at command, without cost or trouble, 

 as much of them as he chooses ; other objects, 

 although equally desired, are not diffused with 

 the same prodigality, but are found either in 

 circumscribed localities, or in limited measure, or 

 can only be created or rendered fit for use by 

 labour. Now, the former class of objects those 

 universally diffused though in a certain sense 

 equally valuable with the others, are found, never- 

 theless, to have no exchangeable value. The 

 atmosphere, for example, is essential to life, but, 

 in general, every one has a supply of it in un- 

 limited abundance ; whereas of fuel and food, 

 which are equally indispensable, the supply is 

 partial, and their preparation for use laborious. 

 In these circumstances, will any one obtain a 

 supply of coals or of wheat by offering in ex- 

 change a measure of atmospheric air? The three 

 commodities are equally valuable, in the sense of 

 being equally useful, but one of them is already 

 possessed by all in full measure, no one wanting 

 more of it than he already has : it is otherwise 

 with food and fuel ; one man has more wheat 

 than he needs, and less fuel than he needs ; an- 

 other has a surplus of fuel, and a deficiency of 

 wheat ; hence a desire to exchange a portion of 

 the surplus food for a portion of the surplus fuel, 

 which commodities are accordingly said to have 

 exchangeable value. Among things having ex- 

 changeable value, there are likewise specific dif- 

 ferences, according as they are the product of 

 unassisted nature, or the product of man's labour, 

 or the joint product of both. 



So special are the laws affecting exchangeable 



value, and so largely do they occupy the political 



economist, that many eminent writers define 



political economy as exclusively the science of 



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exchangeable values, or of wealth possessing 

 exchangeable value. A certain advantage attends 

 this view, by rendering the science more definite, 

 because more limited; but the advantage is 

 gained by regarding as the basis of a definition 

 what is truly the first and most important law of 

 the science. Instead of commodities diffused in 

 superabundance being beyond the cognisance of 

 political economy, they form the subject of one of 

 its most important laws namely, the law, that they 

 possess no exchangeable value. In truth, the 

 universal diffusion of an object of desire, is but 

 the extreme term of a scale ranging from want to 

 abundance ; and it seems as unreasonable to ex- 

 clude it from political economy as it would be to 

 exclude infinity from the cognisance of arithmetic. 

 To the thorough understanding of a general law, 

 it is as necessary to know its operation at the 

 extremes, as at the intermediate terms, of its 

 operation. 



Of the Products of Nature. 



As already indicated, products of nature useful 

 to man, but which are universally diffused, and 

 accessible to all without cost or trouble, bear no 

 exchangeable value. To speak so, however, is to 

 speak hypothetically, for no natural product is so 

 universally accessible. The atmosphere and sun- 

 light come nearest to the condition ; but it does 

 not always hold good even of these. In a crowded 

 town, there are localities better supplied with 

 pure air than others ; and the pure air of these 

 gives an exchangeable value to the sites com- 

 manding it. In like manner, a hill in the midst 

 of swampy ground, or other situations noted for 

 salubrity, possess a high market value. The 

 warmth and light of the sun are more genial in 

 some exposures than in others. To speak, then, 

 of products of nature equally diffused, is to speak 

 of a hypothetical extreme, supposed for the sake 

 of illustrating a law. Land, especially alluvial 

 soil, is a product of nature, very generally dif- 

 fused over the globe, and very essential to the 

 existence of man ; but its extent is limited in 

 a marked degree ; and land, of course, has ex- 

 changeable value. The same may be said of the 

 minerals it contains ; of precious stones, jewels, or 

 other useful articles found in limited quantity on 

 its surface ; and of water-falls and other forces of 

 nature useful to man all which have exchange- 

 able value. 



But most commonly natural products, in order 

 to be suited for human use, must undergo adapta- 

 tions through the agency of man, or, as the term 

 is, through labour. In this case, the exchange- 

 able value of the article depends on two elements 

 combined. The land is tilled, and the crops 

 reaped and made into bread ; the metal is mined, 

 and smelted, and forged into tools ; jewels and 

 precious metals are searched for, transported 

 great distances, and fashioned into ornaments ; 

 a manufactory is built on a water-fall, and the 

 stream diverted to turn the machinery. In all 



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