1 6 POLITICAL ECONOMY 



the number demanded and the number supplied at a given price ; 

 and to signify these numbers we shall use these words, and not 

 the words demand and supply. No equality or ratio can be 

 said to exist between the desire to buy and the readiness to sell. 

 When our 1,000 eggs are sold at 2d., the desire to buy was 

 clearly greater than when they were sold at Id., but the readi- 

 ness to sell was less in the former case than in the latter. A high 

 price indicates a great demand and a small supply, in the sense 

 of readiness to sell. If the desire be measured by the product of 

 the number sold and their price in other words, by the whole 

 sum spent the readiness of a community to sell, being in- 

 versely proportional to the price, might be measured by what is 

 called the reciprocal of that number, or by the quotient of the 

 number supplied by the money spent. Measured thus there is 

 no equality or constant ratio between desire to buy and readiness 

 to sell. The two may increase together, as when a larger num- 

 ber are sold at a constant price, or either may increase while 

 the other diminishes, or both may decrease together. There is, 

 indeed, an equality between the wish to buy and the reluctance 

 to sell each individual thing, but this means no more than that 

 the purchaser and seller must agree on one price before a 

 transaction can take place. Still, as reluctance to sell is 

 measured by the price demanded, we might state that when 

 prices are constant, the desire to purchase is equal to the 

 reluctance to sell, measuring one by the money spent and the 

 other by the money received. These two equations, first be- 

 tween two numbers, and secondly between two values, are both 

 true, and can. one be deduced from the other ; but unfor- 

 tunately, because the number demanded has an effect on the 

 reluctance to sell, and vice versa, people speak as if the equation 

 lay between the number demanded and the readiness or perhaps 

 the reluctance to sell which is nonsense. Any increase in the 

 number demanded at a given price indicates an increase at the 

 time in the whole desire for the thing wanted ; but it is not 

 true that an increased total desire for the thing wanted neces- 

 sarily indicates an increase in the number demanded. At one 

 time in a given town 1000 workmen may be wanted at 20s. per 

 week, and at another time only 800 workmen at 30s. If the 

 value of money has remained constant with respect to other 



