DISTRIBUTION OF WEALTH 



goods and the higher the price which will be 

 offered to induce men to sacrifice present for 

 future goods. This explains in part the high 

 price which is paid for the use of capital-goods. 

 On the other hand, the higher the price the fewer 

 will be the opportunities for investing capital- 

 goods with profit, and thus the demand is limited 

 in part by the conditions of supply. 



We have now reviewed the conditions and 

 forces which seem to determine the distribution 

 of the gross returns of the marginal farmers 

 operating marginal capital-goods upon marginal 

 land, but to complete the theory of distribution it 

 is necessary to explain the conditions and forces 

 which determine the distribution of the gross 

 returns of the more productive grades of the fac- 

 tors of production. The more efficient farmer 

 is able to command more than the minimum which 

 is necessary to the marginal farmer; this is like- 

 wise true of the more productive grades of capital- 

 goods, and all the more productive grades of land 

 afford a return to the owners. 



The share of the gross return which is at- 

 tributed to land varies from place to place because 

 of variations in the productivity of land. Other 

 things remaining the same, the more fertile the 

 soil and the higher the local market prices which 

 can be obtained for the products of the farm, or 

 to state the same thing in other words the more 

 productive the land, the keener will be the compe- 



