ABSTRACT
Since the comparison between the average market price, or the price offered by the buyer, and the cost price, or the price demanded by the seller, must decide what kind of commodities suit every country—what production, divided between the manufacturer and the merchant, and all those to whom they give a living, provides an adequate income; what production favors general prosperity and ought to be encouraged—it is essential to review the various elements which make up the producer’s price. Labor is the most important; and up to a certain point it is the regulator of the others, because there exists a necessary wage below which even competition cannot for long reduce the worker; whereas a reduction of interest on money, or the profits of capital, which are the other components of price, seemingly has no limit.
