[...]... International Trade A quotation from Karl Marx Caravans and trading posts The world market Marts, trades halls and exchanges, fairs and expositions Commodity exchanges, warrants, and transactions at long distance and involving deferred delivery Futures Tribunals of commercial arbitration Money-changers, bills of exchange, securities, and the stock exchange 63 8 Nationalism and Socialism Nationalism in antiquity... diamond, which there lacks all value It is said, especially by the mathematical economists, that the value of a thing increases as it becomes scarcer But this is by no means certain, for it can happen that a thing may become scarcer every day and yet have no value at all because nobody wants it Horse-drawn carriages have become very scarce nowadays, and yet nobody wants them They have no value at all,... it is a commodity and is capable of being exchanged in the market Value always expresses a judgment of the estimation in which something is held, because a thing has a value if and only in so far as it is wanted or desired For example, a millionaire can buy a diamond for a hundred thousand dollars and find himself dying of thirst in the desert and unable to obtain even a glass of water in exchange for... so-called classical school of economics The way was What Is Economics About? 5 opened by Hutcheson and David Hume, who in turn influenced Adam Smith, the author of the first treatise on economics properly so called, entitled Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (1776) In England David Ricardo and, to a certain extent, both James Mill and his son John, in France Jean-Baptiste Say and Frédéric... complete mastery of the material, but the ability to simplify and a kind of talent that is by no means common Perhaps the reason why Professor Ballvé has so well fulfilled the task he set himself is that, besides having studied economics in the lecture hall and the library, he has had the opportunity of applying it and of seeing its results as a civic leader and a holder of public of ce, and that to his... Factors and means of production Comparative cost Marginal utility Diminishing returns The time factor Risk 19 4 Capital, Labor, and Wages Utility and disutility Production as creative Capital and profit Labor and wages The “wages-fund” theory The “iron law of wages.” The labor theory of value “Social injustice.” xv 29 xvi Table of Contents 5 Money and Credit Direct and indirect exchange Barter and money... phenomena in a limited geographical area (England and France in particular), and about which there was considerable disagreement among the adherents of the classical school, were not really laws at all, but mere regularities that, when treated as infallible laws, often failed in their application The second was the inferior competitive position in which the younger countries, especially Germany and the... international trade; (8) nationalism and socialism; (9) the controlled economy; and (10) what economics is not about 2 The Market The autistic and the co-operative economy The division of labor, exchange, and the market Commerce and trade The sovereignty of the consumer Monopoly, economic dictatorship, and the black market Man is incapable of satisfying all his wants by his own unaided efforts Individual... studies in economics he adds a knowledge of the law and a career as a member of the bar In any case, all of us who think that there is no more vital job at present than that of defending freedom, which is one and indivisible, and for that reason quite inconceivable and impossible in the absence of economic freedom, owe a debt of gratitude to him for this book Gustavo R Velasco Table of Contents page Foreword... States the classical doctrine was embraced by Franklin and Hamilton (who was, notwithstanding, a protectionist) The chief exponents in Spain were José Alonso Ortiz, who translated Smith’s work and wrote a commentary on it, and Alvaro Flores Estrada, who nevertheless also initiated the movement of agrarian reform that almost a century later was to bring renown to the American Henry George The apogee of . lecture hall and the library, he has had the opportunity of applying it and of seeing its results as a civic leader and a holder of public of ce, and that to. Depression and unem- ployment. 51 7 International Trade A quotation from Karl Marx. Caravans and trading posts. The world market. Marts, trades halls and exchanges,