THE BEST OF THE OLL #20

Jean-Baptiste Say, “Of the Market for

Products” (1819)
“It is worth while to remark, that a product is no sooner
created, than it, from that instant, affords a market for
other products to the full extent of its own value. ... Thus,
the mere circumstance of the creation of one product
immediately opens a vent for other products.”

Jean-Baptiste Say (1767-1832)

The Best of the Online Library of Liberty <oll.libertyfund.org/title/2465>

The Best of Bastiat <oll.libertyfund.org/title/2477>
[March, 2013]

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Editor’s Introduction

Jean-Baptiste Say (1767-1832) was the leading

French political economist in the first third of the
nineteenth century. Before becoming an academic “Wherever, by reason of the blunders of
political economist quite late in life, Say apprenticed in the nation or its government,
a commercial office, working for a life insurance
company; he also worked as a journalist, soldier, production is stationary, or does not
politician, cotton manufacturer, and writer. During the keep pace with consumption, the
revolution he worked on the journal of the idéologues,
La Décade philosophique, littéraire, et politique, for which he demand gradually declines, the value of
wrote articles on political economy from 1794 to 1799.
the product is less than the charges of
In 1814 he was asked by the government to travel to
England on a fact-finding mission to discover the secret its production; no productive exertion
of English economic growth and to report on the
impact of the revolutionary wars on the British is properly rewarded; profits and wages
economy. His book De l'Angleterre et des Anglais (1815) decrease; ... the labouring classes
was the result.
After the defeat of Napoleon and the restoration experience a want of work; families
of the Bourbon monarchy, Say was appointed to teach
before in tolerable circumstances, are
economics in Paris, first at the Athénée, then as a chair
in "industrial economics" at the Conservatoire national more cramped and confined; and those
des arts et métiers, and finally the first chair in political
economy at the Collège de France. Say is best known before in difficulties are left altogether
for his Traité d'économie politique (1803), which went destitute. Depopulation, misery, and
through many editions (and revisions) during his
lifetime. One of his last major works, the Cours complet returning barbarism, occupy the place
d'économie politique pratique (1828-33), was an attempt to
of abundance and happiness. Such are
broaden the scope of political economy, away from the
preoccupation with the production of wealth, by the concomitants of declining
examining the moral, political, and sociological
requirements of a free society and how they production, which are only to be
interrelated with the study of political economy. remedied by frugality, intelligence,
In the chapter “Of the Demand or Market for
Products” Say provides a set of arguments which were activity, and freedom.”
later to be called “Say’s Law of Markets.” Say notes
that a common complaint in times of economic
downturn was that there was “not enough money”, but
he regards this as mistaken. Since money was merely a
means of exchange, that is an intermediary between
the transfer of goods and services on the market, goods
are in effect exchanged for other goods, and that the
more goods there are, the more opportunities there are
for exchange. In his words “a product is no sooner
created, than it, from that instant, affords a market for
other products to the full extent of its own value. Thus,
the mere circumstance of the creation of one product
immediately opens a vent [sale] for other products.”

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“Of the Market for Products” (1819)1
To enable us to form clear and correct practical
notions in regard to markets for the products of
It is common to hear adventurers industry, we must carefully analyse the best established
[“entrepreneurs”] in the different channels of industry and most certain facts, and apply to them the
assert, that their difficulty lies not in the production,
inferences we have already deduced from a similar way
but in the disposal of commodities; that products
of proceeding; and thus perhaps we may arrive at new
would always be abundant, if there were but a ready and important truths, that may serve to enlighten the
demand, or market for them. When the demand for views of the agents of industry, and to give confidence
their commodities is slow, difficult, and productive of to the measures of governments anxious to afford them
little advantage, they pronounce money to be scarce;
encouragement.
the grand object of their desire is, a consumption brisk
A man who applies his labour to the investing of
enough to quicken sales and keep up prices. But ask objects with value by the creation of utility of some
them what peculiar causes and circumstances facilitate sort, can not expect such a value to be appreciated and
the demand for their products, and you will soon paid for, unless where other men have the means of
perceive that most of them have extremely vague
purchasing it. Now, of what do these means consist? Of
notions of these matters; that their observation of facts
other values of other products, likewise the fruits of
is imperfect, and their explanation still more so; that industry, capital, and land. Which leads us to a
they treat doubtful points as matter of certainty, often conclusion that may at first sight appear paradoxical,
pray for what is directly opposite to their interests, and namely, that it is production which opens a demand for
importunately solicit from authority a protection of the
products.
most mischievous tendency.
Should a tradesman say, "I do not want other
products for my woollens, I want money," there could
“A man who applies his labour to the be little difficulty in convincing him that his customers
could not pay him in money, without having first
investing of objects with value by the
procured it by the sale of some other commodities of
creation of utility of some sort, can not their own. "Yonder farmer," he may be told, "will buy
your woollens, if his crops be good, and will buy more
expect such a value to be appreciated or less according to their abundance or scantiness; he
and paid for, unless where other men can buy none at all, if his crops fail altogether. Neither
can you buy his wool nor his corn yourself, unless you
have the means of purchasing it. Now, contrive to get woollens or some other article to buy
of what do these means consist? Of withal. You say, you only want money; I say, you want
other commodities, and not money. For what, in point
other values of other products, likewise of fact, do you want the money? Is it not for the
purchase of raw materials or stock for your trade, or
the fruits of industry, capital, and
victuals for your support?[34] Wherefore, it is products
land. Which leads us to a conclusion that you want, and not money. The silver coin you will
have received on the sale of your own products, and
that may at first sight appear given in the purchase of those of other people, will the
paradoxical, namely, that it is next moment execute the same office between other
contracting parties, and so from one to another to
production which opens a demand for infinity; just as a public vehicle successively transports
objects one after another. If you can not find a ready
products.”
sale for your commodity, will you say, it is merely for

1 Jean Baptiste Say, A Treatise on Political Economy; or the Production, Distribution, and Consumption of Wealth, ed. Clement C. Biddle,
trans. C. R. Prinsep from the 4th ed. of the French, (Philadelphia: Lippincott, Grambo & Co., 1855. 4th-5th ed. ). Book I,
Chapter XV “Of the Demand or Market for Products.” <oll.libertyfund.org/title/274/38000>.

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want of a vehicle to transport it? For, after all, money is medium. Sales cannot be said to be dull because
but the agent of the transfer of values. Its whole utility money is scarce, but because other products are so.
has consisted in conveying to your hands the value of There is always money enough to conduct the
the commodities, which your customer has sold, for the circulation and mutual interchange of other values,
purpose of buying again from you; and the very next when those values really exist. Should the increase of
purchase you make, it will again convey to a third traffic require more money to facilitate it, the want is
person the value of the products you may have sold to easily supplied, and is a strong indication of prosperity
others. So that you will have bought, and every body —a proof that a great abundance of values has been
must buy, the objects of want or desire, each with the created, which it is wished to exchange for other values.
value of his respective products transformed into In such cases, merchants know well enough how to find
money for the moment only. Otherwise, how could it substitutes for the product serving as the medium of
be possible that there should now be bought and sold exchange or money:[35] and money itself soon pours
in France five or six times as many commodities, as in in, for this reason, that all produce naturally gravitates
the miserable reign of Charles VI.? Is it not obvious, to that place where it is most in demand. It is a good
that five or six times as many commodities must have sign when the business is too great for the money; just
been produced, and that they must have served to in the same way as it is a good sign when the goods are
purchase one or the other?" too plentiful for the warehouses.
When a superabundant article can find no vent
“Thus, to say that sales are dull, owing [“sale”], the scarcity of money has so little to do with
the obstruction of its sale, that the sellers would gladly
to the scarcity of money, is to mistake receive its value in goods for their own consumption at
the current price of the day: they would not ask for
the means for the cause; an error that
money, or have any occasion for that product, since the
proceeds from the circumstance, that only use they could make of it would be to convert it
forthwith into articles of their own consumption.[36]
almost all produce is in the first This observation is applicable to all cases, where
instance exchanged for money, before it there is a supply of commodities or of services in the
market. They will universally find the most extensive
is ultimately converted into other demand in those places, where the most of values are
produced; because in no other places are the sole
produce: and the commodity, which
means of purchase created, that is, values. Money
recurs so repeatedly in use, appears to performs but a momentary function in this double
exchange; and when the transaction is finally closed, it
vulgar apprehensions the most will always be found, that one kind of commodity has
important of commodities, and the end been exchanged for another.

and object of all transactions, whereas “It is worth while to remark, that a
it is only the medium.” product is no sooner created, than it,

Thus, to say that sales are dull, owing to the from that instant, affords a market for
scarcity of money, is to mistake the means for the other products to the full extent of its
cause; an error that proceeds from the circumstance,
that almost all produce is in the first instance own value.”
exchanged for money, before it is ultimately converted
into other produce: and the commodity, which recurs It is worth while to remark, that a product is no
so repeatedly in use, appears to vulgar apprehensions sooner created, than it, from that instant, affords a
the most important of commodities, and the end and market for other products to the full extent of its own
object of all transactions, whereas it is only the value. When the producer has put the finishing hand to

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his product, he is most anxious to sell it immediately, natural impulse towards the vacant channels, the
lest its value should diminish in his hands. Nor is he less replenishment of which restores activity to all the
anxious to dispose of the money he may get for it; for others. One kind of production would seldom outstrip
the value of money is also perishable. But the only way every other, and its products be disproportionately
of getting rid of money is in the purchase of some cheapened, were production left entirely free.[39]
product or other. Thus, the mere circumstance of the
creation of one product immediately opens a vent for “And, since such profits must operate
other products.
For this reason, a good harvest is favourable, not as a powerful stimulus to the
only to the agriculturist, but likewise to the dealers in cultivation of that particular kind of
all commodities generally. The greater the crop, the
larger are the purchases of the growers. A bad harvest, products, there must needs be some
on the contrary, hurts the sale of commodities at large.
violent means, or some extraordinary
And so it is also with the products of manufacture and
commerce. The success of one branch of commerce cause, a political or natural
supplies more ample means of purchase, and
consequently opens a market for the products of all the convulsion, or the avarice or ignorance
other branches; on the other hand, the stagnation of of authority, to perpetuate this scarcity
one channel of manufacture, or of commerce, is felt in
all the rest. on the one hand, and consequent glut
But it may be asked, if this be so, how does it
on the other. No sooner is the cause of
happen, that there is at times so great a glut of
commodities in the market, and so much difficulty in this political disease removed, than the
finding a vent for them? Why cannot one of these
superabundant commodities be exchanged for means of production feel a natural
another? I answer that the glut of a particular impulse towards the vacant channels,
commodity arises from its having outrun the total
demand for it in one or two ways; either because it has the replenishment of which restores
been produced in excessive abundance, or because the
activity to all the others.”
production of other commodities has fallen short.
It is because the production of some commodities
h a s d e c l i n e d , t h at o t h e r c o m m o d i t i e s a re Should a producer imagine, that many other
superabundant. To use a more hackneyed phrase, classes, yielding no material products, are his customers
people have bought less, because they have made less and consumers equally with the classes that raise
profit;[37] and they have made less profit for one or themselves a product of their own; as, for example,
two causes; either they have found difficulties in the public functionaries, physicians, lawyers, churchmen,
employment of their productive means, or these means &c., and thence infer, that there is a class of demand
have themselves been deficient. other than that of the actual producers, he would but
It is observable, moreover, that precisely at the expose the shallowness and superficiality of his ideas. A
same time that one commodity makes a loss, another priest goes to a shop to buy a gown or a surplice; he
commodity is making excessive profit.[38] And, since takes the value, that is to make the purchase, in the
such profits must operate as a powerful stimulus to the form of money. Whence had he that money? From
cultivation of that particular kind of products, there some tax-gatherer who has taken it from a tax-payer.
must needs be some violent means, or some But whence did this latter derive it? From the value he
extraordinary cause, a political or natural convulsion, has himself produced. This value, first produced by the
or the avarice or ignorance of authority, to perpetuate tax-payer, and afterwards turned into money, and given
this scarcity on the one hand, and consequent glut on to the priest for his salary, has enabled him to make the
the other. No sooner is the cause of this political purchase. The priest stands in the place of the
disease removed, than the means of production feel a producer, who might himself have laid the value of his

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product on his own account, in the purchase, perhaps, employ and reward his ability. A merchant established
not of a gown or surplice, but of some other more in a rich and populous town, sells to a much larger
serviceable product. The consumption of the particular amount than one who sets up in a poor district, with a
product, the gown or surplice, has but supplanted that population sunk in indolence and apathy. What could
of some other product. It is quite impossible that the an active manufacturer, or an intelligent merchant, do
purchase of one product can be affected, otherwise in a small deserted and semi-barbarous town in a
than by the value of another.[40] remote corner of Poland or Westphalia? Though in no
From this important truth may be deduced the fear of a competitor, he could sell but little, because
following important conclusions:— little was produced; whilst at Paris, Amsterdam, or
1. That, in every community the more numerous London, in spite of the competition of a hundred
are the producers, and the more various their dealers in his own line, he might do business on the
productions, the more prompt, numerous, and largest scale. The reason is obvious: he is surrounded
extensive are the markets for those productions; and, by with people who produce largely in an infinity of ways,
a natural consequence, the more profitable are they to and who make purchases, each with his respective
the producers; for price rises with the demand. But this products, that is to say, with the money arising from the
advantage is to be derived from real production alone, sale of what he may have produced.
and not from a forced circulation of products; for a
value once created is not augmented in its passage from “each individual is interested in the
one hand to another, nor by being seized and expended
by the government, instead of by an individual. The general prosperity of all, and that the
man, that lives upon the productions of other people, success of one branch of industry
originates no demand for those productions; he merely
puts himself in the place of the producer, to the great promotes that of all the others... The
injury of production, as we shall presently see.
reason is obvious: he is surrounded
“this advantage is to be derived from with people who produce largely in an
real production alone, and not from a infinity of ways, and who make
forced circulation of products; for a purchases, each with his respective
value once created is not augmented in products.”
its passage from one hand to another,
This is the true source of the gains made by the
nor by being seized and expended by towns' people out of the country people, and again by
the latter out of the former; both of them have
the government, instead of by an
wherewith to buy more largely, the more amply they
individual.” themselves produce. A city, standing in the centre of a
rich surrounding country, feels no want of rich and
numerous customers; and, on the other hand, the
2. That each individual is interested in the general
vicinity of an opulent city gives additional value to the
prosperity of all, and that the success of one branch of
produce of the country. The division of nations into
industry promotes that of all the others. In fact,
agricultural, manufacturing, and commercial, is idle
whatever profession or line of business a man may
enough. For the success of a people in agriculture is a
devote himself to, he is the better paid and the more
stimulus to its manufacturing and commercial
readily finds employment, in proportion as he sees
prosperity; and the flourishing condition of its
others thriving equally around him. A man of talent,
manufacture and commerce reflects a benefit upon its
that scarcely vegetates in a retrograde state of society,
agriculture also.[41]
would find a thousand ways of turning his faculties to
account in a thriving community that could afford to

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 The position of a nation, in respect of its destruction, which end is the satisfying of some human
neighbours, is analogous to the relation of one of its want, or the creation of some new product designed
provinces to the others, or of the country to the town; for such a satisfaction. Indeed, if the nation be in a
it has an interest in their prosperity, being sure to profit thriving condition, the gross national re-production
by their opulence. The government of the United exceeds the gross consumption. The consumed
States, therefore, acted most wisely, in their attempt, products have fulfilled their office, as it is natural and
about the year 1802, to civilize their savage neighbours, fitting they should; the consumption, however, has
the Creek Indians. The design was to introduce habits opened no new market, but just the reverse.[44]
of industry amongst them, and make them producers
capable of carrying on a barter trade with the States of “the encouragement of mere
the Union; for there is nothing to be got by dealing
with a people that have nothing to pay. It is useful and consumption is no benefit to
honourable to mankind, that one nation among so commerce; for the difficulty lies in
many should conduct itself uniformly upon liberal
principles. The brilliant results of this enlightened supplying the means, not in
policy will demonstrate, that the systems and theories
stimulating the desire of consumption;
really destructive and fallacious, are the exclusive and
jealous maxims acted upon by the old European and we have seen that production
governments, and by them most impudently styled
practical truths, for no other reason, as it would seem, alone, furnishes those means. Thus, it
than because they have the misfortune to put them in is the aim of good government to
practice. The United States will have the honour of
proving experimentally, that true policy goes hand-in- stimulate production, of bad
hand with moderation and humanity.[42]
government to encourage
3. From this fruitful principle, we may draw this
further conclusion, that it is no injury to the internal or consumption.”
national industry and production to buy and import
commodities from abroad; for nothing can be bought
Having once arrived at the clear conviction, that
from strangers, except with native products, which find
the general demand for products is brisk in proportion
a vent in this external traffic. Should it be objected;
to the activity of production, we need not trouble
that this foreign produce may have been bought with
ourselves much to inquire towards what channel of
specie, I answer, specie is not always a native product,
industry production may be most advantageously
but must have been bought itself with the products of
directed. The products created give rise to various
native industry; so that, whether the foreign articles be
degrees of demand, according to the wants, the
paid for in specie or in home products, the vent for
manners, the comparative capital, industry, and natural
national industry is the same in both cases.[43]
resources of each country; the article most in request,
4. The same principle leads to the conclusion, that
owing to the competition of buyers, yields the best
the encouragement of mere consumption is no benefit
interest of money to the capitalist, the largest profits to
to commerce; for the difficulty lies in supplying the
the adventurer, and the best wages to the labourer; and
means, not in stimulating the desire of consumption;
the agency of their respective services is naturally
and we have seen that production alone, furnishes
attracted by these advantages towards those particular
those means. Thus, it is the aim of good government to
channels.
stimulate production, of bad government to encourage
In a community, city, province, or nation, that
consumption.
produces abundantly, and adds every moment to the
For the same reason that the creation of a new
sum of its products, almost all the branches of
product is the opening of a new market for other
commerce, manufacture, and generally of industry,
products, the consumption or destruction of a product
yield handsome profits, because the demand is great,
is the stoppage of a vent for them. This is no evil where
and because there is always a large quantity of
the end of the product has been answered by its

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products in the market, ready to bid for new productive [38.] The reader may easily apply these maxims to
services. And, vice versâ, wherever, by reason of the any time or country he is acquainted with. We have
blunders of the nation or its government, production is had a striking instance in France during the years 1811,
stationary, or does not keep pace with consumption, 1812, and 1813; when the high prices of colonial
the demand gradually declines, the value of the produce of wheat, and other articles, went hand-in-
product is less than the charges of its production; no hand with the low price of many others that could find
productive exertion is properly rewarded; profits and no advantageous market.
wages decrease; the employment of capital becomes [39.] These considerations have hitherto been
less advantageous and more hazardous; it is consumed almost wholly overlooked, though forming the basis of
piecemeal, not through extravagance, but through correct conclusions in matters of commerce, and of its
necessity, and because the sources of profit are dried regulation by the national authority. The right course
up.[45] The labouring classes experience a want of where it has, by good luck been pursued, appears to
work; families before in tolerable circumstances, are have been selected by accident, or, at most, by a
more cramped and confined; and those before in confused idea of its propriety, without either self-
difficulties are left altogether destitute. Depopulation, conviction, or the ability to convince other people.
misery, and returning barbarism, occupy the place of Sismondi, who seems not to have very well
abundance and happiness. understood the principles laid down in this and the
Such are the concomitants of declining three first chapters of Book II. of this work, instances
production, which are only to be remedied by frugality, the immense quantity of manufactured products with
intelligence, activity, and freedom. which England has of late inundated the markets of
other nations, as a proof, that it is impossible for
industry to be too productive. (Nouv. Prin. liv. iv. c. 4.)
Notes But the glut thus occasioned proves nothing more than
the feebleness of production in those countries that
have been thus glutted with English manufactures. Did
[34.] Even when money is obtained with a view to
Brazil produce wherewithal to purchase the English
hoard or bury it, the ultimate object is always to
goods exported thither, those goods would not glut her
employ it in a purchase of some kind. The heir of the market. Were England to admit the import of the
lucky finder uses it in that way, if the miser do not; for products of the United States, she would find a better
money, as money, has no other use than to buy with. market for her own in those States. The English
[35.] By bills at sight, or after date, bank-notes,
government, by the exorbitance of its taxation upon
running-credits, write-offs, &c. as at London and
import and consumption, virtually interdicts to its
Amsterdam. subjects many kinds of importation, thus obliging the
[36.] I speak here of their aggregate consumption, merchant to offer to foreign countries a higher price for
whether unproductive and designed to satisfy the those articles, whose import is practicable, as sugar,
personal wants of themselves and their families, or
coffee, gold, silver, &c. for the price of the precious
expended in the sustenance of reproductive industry.
metals to them is enhanced by the low price of their
The woollen or cotton manufacturer operates a two- commodities, which accounts for the ruinous returns of
fold consumption of wool and cotton: 1. For his their commerce.
personal wear. 2. For the supply of his manufacture; I would not be understood to maintain in this
but, be the purpose of his consumption what it may,
chapter, that one product can not be raised in too great
whether personal gratification or reproduction, he must
abundance, in relation to all others; but merely that
needs buy what he consumes with what he produces. nothing is more favourable to the demand of one
[37.] Individual profits must, in every description product, than the supply of another; that the import of
of production, from the general merchant to the English manufactures into Brazil would cease to be
common artisan, be derived from the participation in
excessive and be rapidly absorbed, did Brazil produce
the values produced. The ratio of that participation
on her side returns sufficiently ample; to which end it
will form the subject of Book II., infrà. would be necessary that the legislative bodies of either
country should consent, the one to free production, the

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other to free importation. In Brazil every thing is [42.] It is only by the recent advances of political
grasped by monopoly, and property is not exempt from economy, that these most important truths have been
the invasion of the government. In England, the heavy made manifest, not to vulgar apprehension alone, but
duties are a serious obstruction to the foreign even to the most distinguished and enlightened
commerce of the nation, inasmuch as they observers. We read in Voltaire that "such is the lot of
circumscribe the choice of returns. I happen myself to humanity, that the patriotic desire for one's country's
know of a most valuable and scientific collection of grandeur, is but a wish for the humiliation of one's
natural history, which could not be imported from neighbours;—that it is clearly impossible for one
Brazil into England by reason of the exorbitant duties. country to gain, except by the loss of another." (Dist.
[[*]The views of Sismondi, in this particular, have been Phil. Art. Patrie.) By a continuation of the same false
since adopted by our own Malthus, and those of our reasoning, he goes on to declare, that a thorough
author by Ricardo. This difference of opinion has citizen of the world cannot wish his country to be
given rise to an interesting discussion between our greater or less, richer or poorer. It is true, that he would
author and Malthus, to whom he has recently not desire her to extend the limits of her dominion,
addressed a correspondence on this and other parts of because, in so doing, she might endanger her own well-
the science. Were any thing wanting to confirm the being; but he will desire her to progress in wealth, for
arguments of this chapter, it would be supplied by a her progressive prosperity promotes that of all other
reference to his Lettre 1, à M. Malthus. Sismondi has nations.
vainly attempted to answer Ricardo, but has made no [43.] This effect has been sensibly experienced in
mention of his original antagonist. Vide Annales de Brazil of late years. The large imports of European
Legislation, No. 1. art. 3. Geneve, 1820. Translator.] commodities, which the freedom of navigation directed
[40.] The capitalist, in spending the interest of his to the markets of Brazil, has been so favourable to its
capital, spends his portion of the products raised by the native productions and commerce, that Brazilian
employment of that capital. The general rules that products never found so good a sale. So there is an
regulate the ratio he receives will be investigated in instance of a national benefit arising from importation.
Book II., infrà. Should he ever spend the principal, still By the way, it might have perhaps been better for Brazil
he consumes products only; for capital consists of if the prices of her products and the profits of her
products, devoted indeed to reproductive, but producers had risen more slowly and gradually; for
susceptible of unproductive consumption; to which it is exorbitant prices never lead to the establishment of a
in fact consigned whenever it is wasted or dilapidated. permanent commercial intercourse; it is better to gain
[41.] A productive establishment on a large scale is by the multiplication of one's own products than by
sure to animate the industry of the whole their increased price.
neighbourhood. "In Mexico," says Humboldt, "the best [44.] If the barren consumption of a product be of
cultivated tract, and that which brings to the itself adverse to re-production, and a diminution pro
recollection of the traveller the most beautiful part of tanto of the existing demand or vent for produce, how
French scenery, is the level country extending from shall we designate that degree of insanity, which would
Salamanca as far as Silao, Guanaxuato, and Villa de induce a government deliberately to burn and destroy
Leon, and encircling the richest mines of the known the imports of foreign products, and thus to annihilate
world. Wherever the veins of precious metal have been the sole advantage accruing from unproductive
discovered and worked, even in the most desert part of consumption, that is to say the gratification of the
the Cordilleras, and in the most barren and insulated wants of the consumer?
spots, the working of the mines, instead of interrupting [45.] Consumption of this kind gives no
the business of superficial cultivation, has given it more encouragement to future production, but devours
than usual activity. The opening of a considerable vein products already in existence. No additional demand
is sure to be followed by the immediate erection of a can be created until there be new products raised; there
town; farming concerns are established in the vicinity; is only an exchange of one product for another.
and the spot so lately insulated in the midst of wild and Neither can one branch of industry suffer without
desert mountains, is soon brought into contact with the affecting the rest.
tracts before in tillage." Essai pol. sur. la Nouv. Espagne.

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Further Information

SOURCE
The edition used for this extract: Jean Baptiste Say,
A Treatise on Political Economy; or the Production, Distribution,
and Consumption of Wealth, ed. Clement C. Biddle, trans.
C. R. Prinsep from the 4th ed. of the French,
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Other works by Jean-Baptiste Say (1767-1832)
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<oll.libertyfund.org/title/2465>.
School of Thought: 19th Century French Classical
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