1548 lines
62 KiB
Markdown
1548 lines
62 KiB
Markdown
# Extract Economic Entities
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You are an analytical economist specializing in classical economic theory.
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Your task is to extract distinct economic entities from a chapter of
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Adam Smith's *The Wealth of Nations*.
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## Source Chapter
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---
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id: book-4-chapter-06
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title: "OF TREATIES OF COMMERCE."
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book: "4"
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chapter: 6
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artifact_type: content
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---
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CHAPTER VI.
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OF TREATIES OF COMMERCE.
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When a nation binds itself by treaty, either to permit the entry of
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certain goods from one foreign country which it prohibits from all others,
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or to exempt the goods of one country from duties to which it subjects
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those of all others, the country, or at least the merchants and
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manufacturers of the country, whose commerce is so favoured, must
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necessarily derive great advantage from the treaty. Those merchants and
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manufacturers enjoy a sort of monopoly in the country which is so
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indulgent to them. That country becomes a market, both more extensive and
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more advantageous for their goods: more extensive, because the goods of
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other nations being either excluded or subjected to heavier duties, it
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takes off a greater quantity of theirs; more advantageous, because the
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merchants of the favoured country, enjoying a sort of monopoly there, will
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often sell their goods for a better price than if exposed to the free
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competition of all other nations.
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Such treaties, however, though they may be advantageous to the merchants
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and manufacturers of the favoured, are necessarily disadvantageous to
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those of the favouring country. A monopoly is thus granted against them to
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a foreign nation; and they must frequently buy the foreign goods they have
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occasion for, dearer than if the free competition of other nations was
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admitted. That part of its own produce with which such a nation purchases
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foreign goods, must consequently be sold cheaper; because, when two things
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are exchanged for one another, the cheapness of the one is a necessary
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consequence, or rather is the same thing, with the dearness of the other.
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The exchangeable value of its annual produce, therefore, is likely to be
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diminished by every such treaty. This diminution, however, can scarce
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amount to any positive loss, but only to a lessening of the gain which it
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might otherwise make. Though it sells its goods cheaper than it otherwise
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might do, it will not probably sell them for less than they cost; nor, as
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in the case of bounties, for a price which will not replace the capital
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employed in bringing them to market, together with the ordinary profits of
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stock. The trade could not go on long if it did. Even the favouring
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country, therefore, may still gain by the trade, though less than if there
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was a free competition.
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Some treaties of commerce, however, have been supposed advantageous, upon
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principles very different from these; and a commercial country has
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sometimes granted a monopoly of this kind, against itself, to certain
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goods of a foreign nation, because it expected, that in the whole commerce
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between them, it would annually sell more than it would buy, and that a
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balance in gold and silver would be annually returned to it. It is upon
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this principle that the treaty of commerce between England and Portugal,
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concluded in 1703 by Mr Methuen, has been so much commended. The following
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is a literal translation of that treaty, which consists of three articles
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only.
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ART. I. His sacred royal majesty of Portugal promises, both in his own
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name and that of his successors, to admit for ever hereafter, into
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Portugal, the woollen cloths, and the rest of the woollen manufactures of
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the British, as was accustomed, till they were prohibited by the law;
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nevertheless upon this condition:
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ART. II. That is to say, that her sacred royal majesty of Great Britain
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shall, in her own name, and that of her successors, be obliged, for ever
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hereafter, to admit the wines of the growth of Portugal into Britain; so
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that at no time, whether there shall be peace or war between the kingdoms
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of Britain and France, any thing more shall be demanded for these wines by
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the name of custom or duty, or by whatsoever other title, directly or
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indirectly, whether they shall be imported into Great Britain in pipes or
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hogsheads, or other casks, than what shall be demanded for the like
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quantity or measure of French wine, deducting or abating a third part of
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the custom or duty. But if, at any time, this deduction or abatement of
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customs, which is to be made as aforesaid, shall in any manner be
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attempted and prejudiced, it shall be just and lawful for his sacred royal
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majesty of Portugal, again to prohibit the woollen cloths, and the rest of
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the British woollen manufactures.
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ART. III. The most excellent lords the plenipotentiaries promise and take
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upon themselves, that their above named masters shall ratify this treaty;
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and within the space of two months the ratification shall be exchanged.
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By this treaty, the crown of Portugal becomes bound to admit the English
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woollens upon the same footing as before the prohibition; that is, not to
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raise the duties which had been paid before that time. But it does not
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become bound to admit them upon any better terms than those of any other
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nation, of France or Holland, for example. The crown of Great Britain, on
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the contrary, becomes bound to admit the wines of Portugal, upon paying
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only two-thirds of the duty which is paid for those of France, the wines
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most likely to come into competition with them. So far this treaty,
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therefore, is evidently advantageous to Portugal, and disadvantageous to
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Great Britain.
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It has been celebrated, however, as a masterpiece of the commercial policy
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of England. Portugal receives annually from the Brazils a greater quantity
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of gold than can be employed in its domestic commerce, whether in the
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shape of coin or of plate. The surplus is too valuable to be allowed to
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lie idle and locked up in coffers; and as it can find no advantageous
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market at home, it must, notwithstanding; any prohibition, be sent abroad,
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and exchanged for something for which there is a more advantageous market
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at home. A large share of it comes annually to England, in return either
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for English goods, or for those of other European nations that receive
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their returns through England. Mr Barretti was informed, that the weekly
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packet-boat from Lisbon brings, one week with another, more than £50,000
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in gold to England. The sum had probably been exaggerated. It would amount
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to more than £2,600,000 a year, which is more than the Brazils are
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supposed to afford.
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Our merchants were, some years ago, out of humour with the crown of
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Portugal. Some privileges which had been granted them, not by treaty, but
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by the free grace of that crown, at the solicitation, indeed, it is
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probable, and in return for much greater favours, defence and protection
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from the crown of Great Britain, had been either infringed or revoked. The
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people, therefore, usually most interested in celebrating the Portugal
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trade, were then rather disposed to represent it as less advantageous than
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it had commonly been imagined. The far greater part, almost the whole,
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they pretended, of this annual importation of gold, was not on account of
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Great Britain, but of other European nations; the fruits and wines of
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Portugal annually imported into Great Britain nearly compensating the
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value of the British goods sent thither.
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Let us suppose, however, that the whole was on account of Great Britain,
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and that it amounted to a still greater sum than Mr Barretti seems to
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imagine; this trade would not, upon that account, be more advantageous
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than any other, in which, for the same value sent out, we received an
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equal value of consumable goods in return.
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It is but a very small part of this importation which, it can be supposed,
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is employed as an annual addition, either to the plate or to the coin of
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the kingdom. The rest must all be sent abroad, and exchanged for
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consumable goods of some kind or other. But if those consumable goods were
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purchased directly with the produce of English industry, it would be more
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for the advantage of England, than first to purchase with that produce the
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gold of Portugal, and afterwards to purchase with that gold those
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consumable goods. A direct foreign trade of consumption is always more
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advantageous than a round-about one; and to bring the same value of
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foreign goods to the home market requires a much smaller capital in the
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one way than in the ether. If a smaller share of its industry, therefore,
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had been employed in producing goods fit for the Portugal market, and a
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greater in producing those lit for the other markets, where those
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consumable goods for which there is a demand in Great Britain are to be
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had, it would have been more for the advantage of England. To procure both
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the gold which it wants for its own use, and the consumable goods, would,
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in this way, employ a much smaller capital than at present. There would be
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a spare capital, therefore, to be employed for other purposes, in exciting
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an additional quantity of industry, and in raising a greater annual
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produce.
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Though Britain were entirely excluded from the Portugal trade, it could
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find very little difficulty in procuring all the annual supplies of gold
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which it wants, either for the purposes of plate, or of coin, or of
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foreign trade. Gold, like every other commodity, is always somewhere or
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another to be got for its value by those who have that value to give for
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it. The annual surplus of gold in Portugal, besides, would still be sent
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abroad, and though not carried away by Great Britain, would be carried
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away by some other nation, which would be glad to sell it again for its
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price, in the same manner as Great Britain does at present. In buying gold
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of Portugal, indeed, we buy it at the first hand; whereas, in buying it of
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any other nation, except Spain, we should buy it at the second, and might
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pay somewhat dearer. This difference, however, would surely be too
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insignificant to deserve the public attention.
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Almost all our gold, it is said, comes from Portugal. With other nations,
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the balance of trade is either against as, or not much in our favour. But
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we should remember, that the more gold we import from one country, the
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less we must necessarily import from all others. The effectual demand for
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gold, like that for every other commodity, is in every country limited to
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a certain quantity. If nine-tenths of this quantity are imported from one
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country, there remains a tenth only to be imported from all others. The
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more gold, besides, that is annually imported from some particular
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countries, over and above what is requisite for plate and for coin, the
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more must necessarily be exported to some others: and the more that most
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insignificant object of modern policy, the balance of trade, appears to be
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in our favour with some particular countries, the more it must necessarily
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appear to be against us with many others.
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It was upon this silly notion, however, that England could not subsist
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without the Portugal trade, that, towards the end of the late war, France
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and Spain, without pretending either offence or provocation, required the
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king of Portugal to exclude all British ships from his ports, and, for the
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security of this exclusion, to receive into them French or Spanish
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garrisons. Had the king of Portugal submitted to those ignominious terms
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which his brother-in-law the king of Spain proposed to him, Britain would
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have been freed from a much greater inconveniency than the loss of the
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Portugal trade, the burden of supporting a very weak ally, so unprovided
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of every thing for his own defence, that the whole power of England, had
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it been directed to that single purpose, could scarce, perhaps, have
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defended him for another campaign. The loss of the Portugal trade would,
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no doubt, have occasioned a considerable embarrassment to the merchants at
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that time engaged in it, who might not, perhaps, have found out, for a
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year or two, any other equally advantageous method of employing their
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capitals; and in this would probably have consisted all the inconveniency
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which England could have suffered from this notable piece of commercial
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policy.
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The great annual importation of gold and silver is neither for the purpose
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of plate nor of coin, but of foreign trade. A round-about foreign trade of
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consumption can be carried on more advantageously by means of these metals
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than of almost any other goods. As they are the universal instruments of
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commerce, they are more readily received in return for all commodities
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than any other goods; and, on account of their small bulk and great value,
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it costs less to transport them backward and forward from one place to
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another than almost any other sort of merchandize, and they lose less of
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their value by being so transported. Of all the commodities, therefore,
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which are bought in one foreign country, for no other purpose but to be
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sold or exchanged again for some other goods in another, there are none so
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convenient as gold and silver. In facilitating all the different
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round-about foreign trades of consumption which are carried on in Great
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Britain, consists the principal advantage of the Portugal trade; and
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though it is not a capital advantage, it is, no doubt, a considerable one.
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That any annual addition which, it can reasonably be supposed, is made
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either to the plate or to the coin of the kingdom, could require but a
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very small annual importation of gold and silver, seems evident enough;
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and though we had no direct trade with Portugal, this small quantity could
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always, somewhere or another, be very easily got.
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Though the goldsmiths trade be very considerable in Great Britain, the far
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greater part of the new plate which they annually sell, is made from other
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old plate melted down; so that the addition annually made to the whole
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plate of the kingdom cannot be very great, and could require but a very
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small annual importation.
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It is the same case with the coin. Nobody imagines, I believe, that even
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the greater part of the annual coinage, amounting, for ten years together,
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before the late reformation of the gold coin, to upwards of £800,000
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a-year in gold, was an annual addition to the money before current in the
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kingdom. In a country where the expense of the coinage is defrayed by the
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government, the value of the coin, even when it contains its full standard
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weight of gold and silver, can never be much greater than that of an equal
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quantity of those metals uncoined, because it requires only the trouble of
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going to the mint, and the delay, perhaps, of a few weeks, to procure for
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any quantity of uncoined gold and silver an equal quantity of those metals
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in coin; but in every country the greater part of the current coin is
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almost always more or less worn, or otherwise degenerated from its
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standard. In Great Britain it was, before the late reformation, a good
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deal so, the gold being more than two per cent., and the silver more than
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eight per cent. below its standard weight. But if forty-four guineas and
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a-half, containing their full standard weight, a pound weight of gold,
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could purchase very little more than a pound weight of uncoined gold;
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forty-four guineas and a-half, wanting a part of their weight, could not
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purchase a pound weight, and something was to be added, in order to make
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up the deficiency. The current price of gold bullion at market, therefore,
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instead of being the same with the mint price, or £46:14:6, was then about
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£47:14s., and sometimes about £48. When the greater part of the coin,
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however, was in this degenerate condition, forty four guineas and a-half,
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fresh from the mint, would purchase no more goods in the market than any
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other ordinary guineas; because, when they came into the coffers of the
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merchant, being confounded with other money, they could not afterwards be
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distinguished without more trouble than the difference was worth. Like
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other guineas, they were worth no more than £46:14:6. If thrown into the
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melting pot, however, they produced, without any sensible loss, a pound
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weight of standard gold, which could be sold at any time for between
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£47:14s. and £48, either in gold or silver, as fit for all the purposes of
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coin as that which had been melted down. There was an evident profit,
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therefore, in melting down new-coined money; and it was done so
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instantaneously, that no precaution of government could prevent it. The
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operations of the mint were, upon this account, somewhat like the web of
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Penelope; the work that was done in the day was undone in the night. The
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mint was employed, not so much in making daily additions to the coin, as
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in replacing the very best part of it, which was daily melted down.
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Were the private people who carry their gold and silver to the mint to pay
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themselves for the coinage, it would add to the value of those metals, in
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the same manner as the fashion does to that of plate. Coined gold and
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silver would be more valuable than uncoined. The seignorage, if it was not
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exorbitant, would add to the bullion the whole value of the duty; because,
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the government having everywhere the exclusive privilege of coining, no
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coin can come to market cheaper than they think proper to afford it. If
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the duty was exorbitant, indeed, that is, if it was very much above the
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real value of the labour and expense requisite for coinage, false coiners,
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both at home and abroad, might be encouraged, by the great difference
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between the value of bullion and that of coin, to pour in so great a
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quantity of counterfeit money as might reduce the value of the government
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money. In France, however, though the seignorage is eight per cent., no
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sensible inconveniency of this kind is found to arise from it. The dangers
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to which a false coiner is everywhere exposed, if he lives in the country
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of which he counterfeits the coin, and to which his agents or
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correspondents are exposed, if he lives in a foreign country, are by far
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too great to be incurred for the sake of a profit of six or seven per
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cent.
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The seignorage in France raises the value of the coin higher than in
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proportion to the quantity of pure gold which it contains. Thus, by the
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edict of January 1726, the mint price of fine gold of twenty-four carats
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was fixed at seven hundred and forty livres nine sous and one denier
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one-eleventh the mark of eight Paris ounces. {See Dictionnaire des
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Monnoies, tom. ii. article Seigneurage, p. 439, par 81. Abbot de
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Bazinghen, Conseiller-Commissaire en la Cour des Monnoies à Paris.} The
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gold coin of France, making an allowance for the remedy of the mint,
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contains twenty-one carats and three-fourths of fine gold, and two carats
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one-fourth of alloy. The mark of standard gold, therefore, is worth no
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more than about six hundred and seventy-one livres ten deniers. But in
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France this mark of standard gold is coined into thirty louis d’ors of
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twenty-four livres each, or into seven hundred and twenty livres. The
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coinage, therefore, increases the value of a mark of standard gold
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bullion, by the difference between six hundred and seventy-one livres ten
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deniers and seven hundred and twenty livres, or by forty-eight livres
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nineteen sous and two deniers.
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A seignorage will, in many cases, take away altogether, and will in all
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cases diminish, the profit of melting down the new coin. This profit
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always arises from the difference between the quantity of bullion which
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the common currency ought to contain and that which it actually does
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contain. If this difference is less than the seignorage, there will be
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loss instead of profit. If it is equal to the seignorage, there will be
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neither profit nor loss. If it is greater than the seignorage, there will,
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indeed, be some profit, but less than if there was no seignorage. If,
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before the late reformation of the gold coin, for example, there had been
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a seignorage of five per cent. upon the coinage, there would have been a
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loss of three per cent. upon the melting down of the gold coin. If the
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seignorage had been two per cent., there would have been neither profit
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nor loss. If the seignorage had been one per cent., there would have been
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a profit but of one per cent. only, instead of two per cent. Wherever
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money is received by tale, therefore, and not by weight, a seignorage is
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the most effectual preventive of the melting down of the coin, and, for
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the same reason, of its exportation. It is the best and heaviest pieces
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that are commonly either melted down or exported, because it is upon such
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that the largest profits are made.
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The law for the encouragement of the coinage, by rendering it duty-free,
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was first enacted during the reign of Charles II. for a limited time, and
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afterwards continued, by different prolongations, till 1769, when it was
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rendered perpetual. The bank of England, in order to replenish their
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coffers with money, are frequently obliged to carry bullion to the mint;
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and it was more for their interest, they probably imagined, that the
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coinage should be at the expense of the government than at their own. It
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was probably out of complaisance to this great company, that the
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government agreed to render this law perpetual. Should the custom of
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weighing gold, however, come to be disused, as it is very likely to be on
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account of its inconveniency; should the gold coin of England come to be
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received by tale, as it was before the late recoinage this great company
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may, perhaps, find that they have, upon this, as upon some other
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occasions, mistaken their own interest not a little.
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Before the late recoinage, when the gold currency of England was two per
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cent. below its standard weight, as there was no seignorage, it was two
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per cent. below the value of that quantity of standard gold bullion which
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it ought to have contained. When this great company, therefore, bought
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gold bullion in order to have it coined, they were obliged to pay for it
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two per cent. more than it was worth after the coinage. But if there had
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been a seignorage of two per cent. upon the coinage, the common gold
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currency, though two per cent. below its standard weight, would,
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notwithstanding, have been equal in value to the quantity of standard gold
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which it ought to have contained; the value of the fashion compensating in
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this case the diminution of the weight. They would, indeed, have had the
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seignorage to pay, which being two per cent., their loss upon the whole
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transaction would have been two per cent., exactly the same, but no
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greater than it actually was.
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If the seignorage had been five per cent. and the gold currency only two
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per cent. below its standard weight, the bank would, in this case, have
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gained three per cent. upon the price of the bullion; but as they would
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have had a seignorage of five per cent. to pay upon the coinage, their
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loss upon the whole transaction would, in the same manner, have been
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exactly two per cent.
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If the seignorage had been only one per cent., and the gold currency two
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per cent. below its standard weight, the bank would, in this case, have
|
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lost only one per cent. upon the price of the bullion; but as they would
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likewise have had a seignorage of one per cent. to pay, their loss upon
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the whole transaction would have been exactly two per cent., in the same
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manner as in all other cases.
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If there was a reasonable seignorage, while at the same time the coin
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contained its full standard weight, as it has done very nearly since the
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late recoinage, whatever the bank might lose by the seignorage, they would
|
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gain upon the price of the bullion; and whatever they might gain upon the
|
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price of the bullion, they would lose by the seignorage. They would
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neither lose nor gain, therefore, upon the whole transaction, and they
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would in this, as in all the foregoing cases, be exactly in the same
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situation as if there was no seignorage.
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When the tax upon a commodity is so moderate as not to encourage
|
||
smuggling, the merchant who deals in it, though he advances, does not
|
||
properly pay the tax, as he gets it back in the price of the commodity.
|
||
The tax is finally paid by the last purchaser or consumer. But money is a
|
||
commodity, with regard to which every man is a merchant. Nobody buys it
|
||
but in order to sell it again; and with regard to it there is, in ordinary
|
||
cases, no last purchaser or consumer. When the tax upon coinage,
|
||
therefore, is so moderate as not to encourage false coining, though every
|
||
body advances the tax, nobody finally pays it; because every body gets it
|
||
back in the advanced value of the coin.
|
||
|
||
A moderate seignorage, therefore, would not, in any case, augment the
|
||
expense of the bank, or of any other private persons who carry their
|
||
bullion to the mint in order to be coined; and the want of a moderate
|
||
seignorage does not in any case diminish it. Whether there is or is not a
|
||
seignorage, if the currency contains its full standard weight, the coinage
|
||
costs nothing to anybody; and if it is short of that weight, the coinage
|
||
must always cost the difference between the quantity of bullion which
|
||
ought to be contained in it, and that which actually is contained in it.
|
||
|
||
The government, therefore, when it defrays the expense of coinage, not
|
||
only incurs some small expense, but loses some small revenue which it
|
||
might get by a proper duty; and neither the bank, nor any other private
|
||
persons, are in the smallest degree benefited by this useless piece of
|
||
public generosity.
|
||
|
||
The directors of the bank, however, would probably be unwilling to agree
|
||
to the imposition of a seignorage upon the authority of a speculation
|
||
which promises them no gain, but only pretends to insure them from any
|
||
loss. In the present state of the gold coin, and as long as it continues
|
||
to be received by weight, they certainly would gain nothing by such a
|
||
change. But if the custom of weighing the gold coin should ever go into
|
||
disuse, as it is very likely to do, and if the gold coin should ever fall
|
||
into the same state of degradation in which it was before the late
|
||
recoinage, the gain, or more properly the savings, of the bank,
|
||
in consequence of the imposition of a seignorage, would probably be very
|
||
considerable. The bank of England is the only company which sends any
|
||
considerable quantity of bullion to the mint, and the burden of the annual
|
||
coinage falls entirely, or almost entirely, upon it. If this annual
|
||
coinage had nothing to do but to repair the unavoidable losses and
|
||
necessary wear and tear of the coin, it could seldom exceed fifty
|
||
thousand, or at most a hundred thousand pounds. But when the coin is
|
||
degraded below its standard weight, the annual coinage must, besides this,
|
||
fill up the large vacuities which exportation and the melting pot are
|
||
continually making in the current coin. It was upon this account, that
|
||
during the ten or twelve years immediately preceding the late reformation
|
||
of the gold coin, the annual coinage amounted, at an average, to more than
|
||
£850,000. But if there had been a seignorage of four or five per cent.
|
||
upon the gold coin, it would probably, even in the state in which things
|
||
then were, have put an effectual stop to the business both of exportation
|
||
and of the melting pot. The bank, instead of losing every year about two
|
||
and a half per cent. upon the bullion which was to be coined into more
|
||
than eight hundred and fifty thousand pounds, or incurring an annual loss
|
||
of more than £21,250 pounds, would not probably have incurred the tenth
|
||
part of that loss.
|
||
|
||
The revenue allotted by parliament for defraying the expense of the
|
||
coinage is but fourteen thousand pounds a-year; and the real expense which
|
||
it costs the government, or the fees of the officers of the mint, do not,
|
||
upon ordinary occasions, I am assured, exceed the half of that sum. The
|
||
saving of so very small a sum, or even the gaining of another, which could
|
||
not well be much larger, are objects too inconsiderable, it may be
|
||
thought, to deserve the serious attention of government. But the saving of
|
||
eighteen or twenty thousand pounds a-year, in case of an event which is
|
||
not improbable, which has frequently happened before, and which is very
|
||
likely to happen again, is surely an object which well deserves the
|
||
serious attention, even of so great a company as the bank of England.
|
||
|
||
Some of the foregoing reasonings and observations might, perhaps, have
|
||
been more properly placed in those chapters of the first book which treat
|
||
of the origin and use of money, and of the difference between the real and
|
||
the nominal price of commodities. But as the law for the encouragement of
|
||
coinage derives its origin from those vulgar prejudices which have been
|
||
introduced by the mercantile system, I judged it more proper to reserve
|
||
them for this chapter. Nothing could be more agreeable to the spirit of
|
||
that system than a sort of bounty upon the production of money, the very
|
||
thing which, it supposes, constitutes the wealth of every nation. It is
|
||
one of its many admirable expedients for enriching the country.
|
||
|
||
|
||
## Extraction Guidelines
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
id: extraction-rules
|
||
name: extraction_rules
|
||
artifact_type: content
|
||
description: Guidelines for extracting economic entities from source text
|
||
version: 1.0.0
|
||
---
|
||
|
||
# Entity Extraction Rules
|
||
|
||
## What Constitutes an Entity
|
||
|
||
An economic entity is a distinct concept, actor, mechanism, or institution
|
||
that plays a functional role in Adam Smith's economic analysis. Extract
|
||
entities at the level of specificity where they carry independent meaning.
|
||
|
||
## Extraction Criteria
|
||
|
||
1. **Concepts**: Abstract economic ideas (e.g., "division of labour",
|
||
"effectual demand", "natural price"). Extract when Smith defines,
|
||
explains, or argues about the concept.
|
||
|
||
2. **Actors**: Economic agents with defined roles (e.g., "the labourer",
|
||
"the merchant", "the sovereign"). Extract when the actor performs
|
||
a distinct economic function.
|
||
|
||
3. **Mechanisms**: Processes or dynamics that produce economic effects
|
||
(e.g., "accumulation of stock", "market price adjustment",
|
||
"foreign trade"). Extract when the mechanism is described as
|
||
producing specific outcomes.
|
||
|
||
4. **Institutions**: Organised structures that shape economic behaviour
|
||
(e.g., "the corporation", "the guild", "the joint-stock company").
|
||
Extract when the institution's economic function is described.
|
||
|
||
## Granularity Rules
|
||
|
||
- Extract at the level of a single coherent concept.
|
||
- Do NOT extract synonyms as separate entities — choose the primary term
|
||
Smith uses and note variations.
|
||
- DO extract distinct aspects of a broad concept as separate entities when
|
||
Smith treats them independently (e.g., "wages of labour" and "profits
|
||
of stock" are separate from "price of commodities" even though they
|
||
compose it).
|
||
- If an entity appears across multiple chapters, extract it on first
|
||
significant appearance and note cross-references in later chapters.
|
||
|
||
## Naming Conventions
|
||
|
||
- Use Smith's own terminology where possible.
|
||
- Normalise to lowercase except for proper nouns.
|
||
- Use the most common form Smith uses (e.g., "division of labour" not
|
||
"divided labour").
|
||
|
||
## Quality Checks
|
||
|
||
- Each entity must have a definition that would be comprehensible without
|
||
reading the source chapter.
|
||
- Each entity must cite the specific book and chapter of first appearance.
|
||
- **Economic Domain** must be EXACTLY ONE of: Production, Distribution,
|
||
Exchange, Consumption, Accumulation, Regulation, or General Theory.
|
||
Do not combine multiple domains. Do not use any other value.
|
||
- **Source Chapter format**: Use `Book [Roman numeral], Chapter [number]`
|
||
— for example `Book I, Chapter 3`. Do not include the chapter title,
|
||
quotation marks, markdown formatting, or asterisks. Use Roman numerals
|
||
for the book (I, II, III, IV, V).
|
||
|
||
|
||
## VSM Framework Context
|
||
|
||
Use the following VSM framework as context to guide your extraction.
|
||
Prioritize entities that are likely to have clear mappings to VSM concepts,
|
||
but do not exclude entities simply because they lack an obvious mapping.
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
id: vsm-framework
|
||
name: vsm_framework
|
||
artifact_type: content
|
||
description: Stafford Beer's Viable System Model reference for economic analysis
|
||
version: 1.0.0
|
||
---
|
||
|
||
# Stafford Beer's Viable System Model (VSM)
|
||
|
||
The Viable System Model (VSM) is a model of the organisational structure of any
|
||
autonomous system capable of producing itself. It was created by management
|
||
cybernetician Stafford Beer in his books *Brain of the Firm* (1972) and
|
||
*The Heart of Enterprise* (1979).
|
||
|
||
## Core Principle: Viability
|
||
|
||
A viable system is any system organised in such a way as to meet the demands
|
||
of surviving in a changing environment. One of the prime features of systems
|
||
that survive is that they are adaptable. The VSM expresses a model for a
|
||
viable system, which is an abstracted cybernetic description applicable to
|
||
any organisation that is a going concern.
|
||
|
||
## The Five Systems
|
||
|
||
### System 1 (S1) — Operations
|
||
|
||
The primary activities that produce the organisation's purpose. These are the
|
||
operational units that directly create value. Each operational element is itself
|
||
a viable system (the principle of recursion).
|
||
|
||
**In economic terms:** Productive enterprises, factories, farms, workshops,
|
||
individual labourers performing specialised tasks, merchant operations.
|
||
|
||
**Key properties:** Autonomy within constraints, self-organisation,
|
||
direct engagement with the environment.
|
||
|
||
### System 2 (S2) — Coordination
|
||
|
||
The information channels and bodies that allow the primary activities in
|
||
System 1 to communicate with each other and that allow System 3 to monitor
|
||
and coordinate activities. System 2 dampens oscillations and resolves
|
||
conflicts between operational units.
|
||
|
||
**In economic terms:** Market price mechanisms, trade customs, standard
|
||
weights and measures, commercial law, banking clearinghouses, trade guilds.
|
||
|
||
**Key properties:** Anti-oscillatory, dampening, scheduling, conflict
|
||
resolution, standardisation.
|
||
|
||
### System 3 (S3) — Control / Operational Management
|
||
|
||
The structures and controls that establish the rules, resources, rights,
|
||
and responsibilities of System 1 and provide an interface between Systems 1
|
||
and Systems 4/5. System 3 represents the day-to-day control of the
|
||
organisation. It optimises the internal environment.
|
||
|
||
**In economic terms:** Government regulation of trade, taxation policy, labour
|
||
laws, enforcement of contracts, the "invisible hand" as emergent internal
|
||
regulation, guilds and corporations governing members.
|
||
|
||
**Key properties:** Internal regulation, resource allocation, accountability,
|
||
synergy extraction, performance management.
|
||
|
||
### System 3* (S3*) — Audit / Monitoring
|
||
|
||
The audit and monitoring channel that allows System 3 to verify information
|
||
coming from System 1 through channels other than those provided by System 2.
|
||
System 3* provides sporadic, direct access to operational reality.
|
||
|
||
**In economic terms:** Market inspections, quality checks, auditing of accounts,
|
||
surprise investigations into trade practices, verification of weights and measures.
|
||
|
||
**Key properties:** Sporadic direct investigation, reality checking, bypassing
|
||
normal reporting channels.
|
||
|
||
### System 4 (S4) — Intelligence / Adaptation
|
||
|
||
The bodies and processes that look outward to the environment to monitor
|
||
how the organisation needs to adapt to remain viable. System 4 captures
|
||
all relevant information about the outside-and-then environment. It is
|
||
responsible for strategic responses.
|
||
|
||
**In economic terms:** Foreign intelligence about trade opportunities,
|
||
market research, new technology adoption, colonial exploration and trade
|
||
route development, understanding of foreign economic systems.
|
||
|
||
**Key properties:** Environmental scanning, future orientation, strategic
|
||
planning, modelling, research and development.
|
||
|
||
### System 5 (S5) — Policy / Identity
|
||
|
||
The policy-making body that balances demands from Systems 3 and 4 and defines
|
||
the identity, values, and purpose of the organisation. System 5 provides
|
||
closure to the whole system and represents its supreme authority.
|
||
|
||
**In economic terms:** Sovereign authority, constitutional principles governing
|
||
economic policy, national economic identity, the philosophical foundations
|
||
of economic systems (mercantilism vs. free trade), the overarching purpose
|
||
of the commonwealth.
|
||
|
||
**Key properties:** Identity, ethos, supreme command, policy closure,
|
||
balancing internal and external perspectives.
|
||
|
||
## Key Concepts
|
||
|
||
### Recursion
|
||
|
||
Every viable system contains and is contained in a viable system. The same
|
||
five-system structure recurs at every level of organisation. A workshop is
|
||
a viable system within a factory, which is a viable system within an
|
||
industry, which is a viable system within a national economy.
|
||
|
||
### Variety
|
||
|
||
A measure of the number of possible states of a system. The Law of Requisite
|
||
Variety (Ashby's Law) states that only variety can absorb variety. A
|
||
controller must have at least as much variety as the system it controls.
|
||
|
||
### Requisite Variety
|
||
|
||
The principle that for effective regulation, the variety of the regulator
|
||
must match the variety of the system being regulated. This is achieved
|
||
through variety attenuation (reducing the variety coming up from operations)
|
||
and variety amplification (increasing the variety of management's responses).
|
||
|
||
### Attenuation and Amplification
|
||
|
||
Variety engineering mechanisms. Attenuation reduces variety (e.g., reporting
|
||
summaries, statistical aggregation, standardisation). Amplification increases
|
||
variety (e.g., delegation, empowerment, decentralisation).
|
||
|
||
### Algedonic Signals
|
||
|
||
Emergency signals that bypass the normal management hierarchy to alert
|
||
higher systems of critical situations requiring immediate attention. Named
|
||
from the Greek words for pain (algos) and pleasure (hedone).
|
||
|
||
**In economic terms:** Market panics, famine signals, sudden price collapses,
|
||
trade embargoes, economic crises that demand immediate sovereign intervention.
|
||
|
||
### Autonomy
|
||
|
||
The degree of freedom granted to operational units (System 1) to self-organise
|
||
within constraints set by System 3. Beer argued that maximum autonomy
|
||
consistent with systemic cohesion yields maximum viability.
|
||
|
||
### Viability
|
||
|
||
The capacity of a system to maintain a separate existence and survive in a
|
||
changing environment. A viable system continuously adapts while maintaining
|
||
its identity.
|
||
|
||
|
||
## Existing Entities
|
||
|
||
The following entities have already been extracted from previous chapters
|
||
of this work. Do NOT re-extract any of these. If one of these entities
|
||
appears in the current chapter, you may omit it entirely — the infospace
|
||
already contains it. Only extract entities that are genuinely new.
|
||
|
||
- accumulation-of-stock
|
||
- active-and-productive-stock
|
||
- adulteration-of-metals
|
||
- adulterine-guilds
|
||
- advanced-state-of-society
|
||
- advancing-state-of-manufacture
|
||
- agio-of-bank-money
|
||
- agricultural-capital
|
||
- agricultural-capital-structure
|
||
- agricultural-comparative-advantage
|
||
- agricultural-cultivation
|
||
- agricultural-cultivation-at-farmer-expense
|
||
- agricultural-cultivation-at-proprietor-expense
|
||
- agricultural-demand
|
||
- agricultural-development-constraints
|
||
- agricultural-development-sequence
|
||
- agricultural-economic-potential
|
||
- agricultural-efficiency
|
||
- agricultural-improvement
|
||
- agricultural-improvement-discouragement
|
||
- agricultural-improvement-foundation
|
||
- agricultural-labour
|
||
- agricultural-market-access-cost-structure
|
||
- agricultural-market-access-development-prerequisites
|
||
- agricultural-market-access-development-sequence
|
||
- agricultural-market-access-gradient
|
||
- agricultural-market-access-inequality
|
||
- agricultural-market-access-opportunity-cost
|
||
- agricultural-market-communication-channels
|
||
- agricultural-market-integration
|
||
- agricultural-market-size-threshold
|
||
- agricultural-opportunity-cost
|
||
- agricultural-price-ceilings
|
||
- agricultural-price-differential
|
||
- agricultural-price-discovery
|
||
- agricultural-price-discrimination
|
||
- agricultural-price-elasticity
|
||
- agricultural-price-equalization
|
||
- agricultural-price-floors
|
||
- agricultural-price-mechanism
|
||
- agricultural-price-regulation
|
||
- agricultural-price-stability
|
||
- agricultural-price-transmission
|
||
- agricultural-price-volatility
|
||
- agricultural-productivity
|
||
- agricultural-productivity-limits
|
||
- agricultural-security-gradient
|
||
- agricultural-spatial-inequality
|
||
- agricultural-specialization
|
||
- agricultural-stock
|
||
- agricultural-supply
|
||
- agricultural-surplus
|
||
- agricultural-surplus-determination
|
||
- agricultural-technology
|
||
- agricultural-technology-adoption
|
||
- agricultural-trade
|
||
- alien-merchant-duties
|
||
- ancient-system-of-political-economy
|
||
- annual-consumption-of-goods
|
||
- annual-consumption-of-metals
|
||
- annual-industry-employed-in-production
|
||
- annual-produce-of-land-and-labour
|
||
- apprenticeships
|
||
- artificer-neighbourhood-settlement
|
||
- artificer-planter-independence
|
||
- artificer-planter-transition
|
||
- artificer-servant-status
|
||
- artificers-and-retailers
|
||
- artificial-direction-of-industry
|
||
- artificial-grasses
|
||
- artificial-market-creation
|
||
- artisan-specialisation
|
||
- assaying
|
||
- assize-of-bread
|
||
- assize-of-bread-and-ale
|
||
- aulnagers
|
||
- average-price-of-corn
|
||
- balance-of-produce-and-consumption
|
||
- balance-of-trade
|
||
- balance-of-trade-doctrine
|
||
- bank-capital-adequacy
|
||
- bank-capital-structure
|
||
- bank-circulation-limits
|
||
- bank-competition-effects
|
||
- bank-credit-allocation
|
||
- bank-credit-cycles
|
||
- bank-credit-extension
|
||
- bank-credit-quality
|
||
- bank-economic-contribution
|
||
- bank-economic-contribution-metrics
|
||
- bank-economic-cycles
|
||
- bank-economic-development
|
||
- bank-economic-development-metrics
|
||
- bank-economic-efficiency
|
||
- bank-economic-efficiency-factors
|
||
- bank-economic-efficiency-metrics
|
||
- bank-economic-growth
|
||
- bank-economic-resilience
|
||
- bank-economic-resilience-factors
|
||
- bank-economic-resilience-metrics
|
||
- bank-economic-stability
|
||
- bank-failure-mechanisms
|
||
- bank-financial-development
|
||
- bank-financial-innovation
|
||
- bank-financial-innovation-adoption
|
||
- bank-financial-innovation-diffusion
|
||
- bank-financial-innovation-factors
|
||
- bank-financial-innovation-impact
|
||
- bank-financial-innovation-metrics
|
||
- bank-financial-intermediation
|
||
- bank-financial-intermediation-efficiency
|
||
- bank-financial-stability
|
||
- bank-financial-stability-factors
|
||
- bank-financial-stability-metrics
|
||
- bank-financial-system-integration
|
||
- bank-financial-system-stability
|
||
- bank-information-asymmetry
|
||
- bank-interest-rate-determination
|
||
- bank-liquidity-management
|
||
- bank-market-discipline
|
||
- bank-market-structure
|
||
- bank-monetary-policy
|
||
- bank-monetary-stability
|
||
- bank-money
|
||
- bank-notes
|
||
- bank-operational-efficiency
|
||
- bank-operational-risk
|
||
- bank-public-utility
|
||
- bank-regulatory-compliance
|
||
- bank-regulatory-effectiveness
|
||
- bank-regulatory-evolution
|
||
- bank-regulatory-framework
|
||
- bank-regulatory-framework-evolution
|
||
- bank-reserves
|
||
- bank-risk-management
|
||
- bank-systemic-risk
|
||
- bank-systemic-risk-management
|
||
- bank-systemic-stability
|
||
- bank-transaction-costs
|
||
- barbarous-nations-barrier
|
||
- barter-and-exchange
|
||
- benevolence
|
||
- bills-of-exchange
|
||
- bleacher
|
||
- boat-fishery
|
||
- bounty
|
||
- bullion
|
||
- buss-fishery
|
||
- butcher-trade
|
||
- bye-laws
|
||
- canal-communication
|
||
- capital
|
||
- capital-accumulation
|
||
- capital-accumulation-through-frugality
|
||
- capital-decay-through-excessive-consumption
|
||
- capital-employed
|
||
- capital-employment-advantages
|
||
- capital-employment-effects
|
||
- capital-employment-security-gradient
|
||
- capital-of-the-farmer
|
||
- capital-replacement
|
||
- capital-security-preference
|
||
- capital-security-visibility
|
||
- carriage-value-savings
|
||
- carrying-trade
|
||
- cash-accounts
|
||
- certificates
|
||
- cheap-years
|
||
- circulating-capital
|
||
- circulating-capital-components
|
||
- circulating-money
|
||
- circulation-of-money
|
||
- coal-heaver
|
||
- coal-price
|
||
- coarser-and-finer-materials
|
||
- coined-money
|
||
- collier
|
||
- colonial-trade-monopoly
|
||
- colonial-wine-duty-drawback
|
||
- colony-prosperity
|
||
- combination-of-masters
|
||
- combination-of-workmen
|
||
- command-over-labour
|
||
- commerce-between-town-and-country
|
||
- commerce-of-towns
|
||
- commercial-country-ruin-predictions
|
||
- commercial-development-sequence-inversion
|
||
- commercial-discord-source
|
||
- commercial-family-duration-pattern
|
||
- commercial-hospitality-contrast
|
||
- commercial-independence-effect
|
||
- commercial-interactions
|
||
- commercial-maxims-inversion
|
||
- commercial-or-mercantile-system
|
||
- commercial-order-and-government-introduction
|
||
- commercial-society
|
||
- commercial-society-emergence
|
||
- commercial-society-formation
|
||
- commercial-system-enrichment-mechanism
|
||
- commercial-system-principles
|
||
- commercial-transactions
|
||
- common-annual-profits-of-manufacturing-stock
|
||
- common-labour-wages
|
||
- common-returns-of-stock
|
||
- commonalty
|
||
- comparative-advantage-principle
|
||
- competition-among-buyers
|
||
- competition-among-dealers
|
||
- competition-among-sellers
|
||
- complete-manufacture
|
||
- component-parts-of-price
|
||
- computed-exchange-rate
|
||
- consumption-of-foreign-goods
|
||
- contract
|
||
- conversion-price
|
||
- copper-money
|
||
- corn-exportation-prohibition
|
||
- corn-land
|
||
- corn-rent
|
||
- corporation-laws
|
||
- corporation-privileges-and-market-prices
|
||
- country-gentlemen
|
||
- country-gentlemen-versus-merchants
|
||
- country-life-charms
|
||
- cultivation-improvement-priority
|
||
- dead-stock
|
||
- dear-years
|
||
- debasement-of-currency
|
||
- declining-manufacture
|
||
- degradation-of-coin
|
||
- degradation-of-silver
|
||
- demand-for-labour
|
||
- demesne
|
||
- diamond-buckles-metaphor
|
||
- direct-foreign-trade-of-consumption
|
||
- disadvantageous-balance-trade-restraints
|
||
- discount-of-bills
|
||
- distant-country-subsistence
|
||
- distant-market-manufacturing
|
||
- distant-sale-manufacturing
|
||
- division-of-labour
|
||
- division-of-labour-advantage
|
||
- domestic-industry-protection
|
||
- domestic-market-monopoly
|
||
- domestic-market-size-effects
|
||
- double-coincidence-of-wants
|
||
- drawback
|
||
- drawbacks
|
||
- drawing-and-redrawing
|
||
- dwelling-house-distinction
|
||
- early-and-rude-state-of-society
|
||
- early-navigation-advantages
|
||
- economic-accessibility-determinants
|
||
- economic-accessibility-gradient
|
||
- economic-autonomy
|
||
- economic-autonomy-gradient
|
||
- economic-backwardness
|
||
- economic-connectivity-importance
|
||
- economic-development-constraints
|
||
- economic-development-geography
|
||
- economic-development-geography-theory
|
||
- economic-development-sequence
|
||
- economic-development-sequencing
|
||
- economic-development-spatial-patterns
|
||
- economic-geography
|
||
- economic-geography-determinism
|
||
- economic-geography-impact
|
||
- economic-identity
|
||
- economic-isolation-effects
|
||
- economic-opportunity-cost
|
||
- economic-opportunity-geography
|
||
- economic-prosperity-symptoms
|
||
- economic-spatial-inequality
|
||
- economic-spatial-organisation
|
||
- economic-stagnation-symptoms
|
||
- economic-system-actor
|
||
- economic-system-adaptability
|
||
- economic-system-adaptation
|
||
- economic-system-adoption-factor
|
||
- economic-system-analysis
|
||
- economic-system-application
|
||
- economic-system-benchmark
|
||
- economic-system-best-practice
|
||
- economic-system-change-agent
|
||
- economic-system-comparison
|
||
- economic-system-comprehension
|
||
- economic-system-consequence
|
||
- economic-system-context
|
||
- economic-system-coordination
|
||
- economic-system-development
|
||
- economic-system-diffusion-mechanism
|
||
- economic-system-effectiveness
|
||
- economic-system-effectiveness-evaluation
|
||
- economic-system-efficiency
|
||
- economic-system-evaluation
|
||
- economic-system-evaluation-criteria
|
||
- economic-system-evolution
|
||
- economic-system-experience-accumulation
|
||
- economic-system-explanation
|
||
- economic-system-failure-indicator
|
||
- economic-system-framework
|
||
- economic-system-function
|
||
- economic-system-governance
|
||
- economic-system-implementation
|
||
- economic-system-implementation-barrier
|
||
- economic-system-improvement
|
||
- economic-system-influence
|
||
- economic-system-innovation
|
||
- economic-system-innovation-driver
|
||
- economic-system-institution
|
||
- economic-system-integration
|
||
- economic-system-interaction
|
||
- economic-system-knowledge
|
||
- economic-system-knowledge-transfer
|
||
- economic-system-learning-process
|
||
- economic-system-legitimacy
|
||
- economic-system-management
|
||
- economic-system-mechanism
|
||
- economic-system-mechanisms
|
||
- economic-system-objectives
|
||
- economic-system-operation
|
||
- economic-system-outcome-measure
|
||
- economic-system-outcomes
|
||
- economic-system-performance-indicator
|
||
- economic-system-policy
|
||
- economic-system-practice
|
||
- economic-system-principles
|
||
- economic-system-purpose
|
||
- economic-system-relationship
|
||
- economic-system-resistance-factor
|
||
- economic-system-selection
|
||
- economic-system-standard
|
||
- economic-system-structure
|
||
- economic-system-success-measure
|
||
- economic-system-sustainability
|
||
- economic-system-theory
|
||
- economic-system-transformation
|
||
- economic-system-transition-challenge
|
||
- economic-systems-distinction
|
||
- effect-of-prohibition-on-gold-and-silver-export
|
||
- effectual-demand
|
||
- ejectment-action
|
||
- encroachment-upon-capital
|
||
- engrossers-and-forestallers
|
||
- engrossing
|
||
- entail
|
||
- environmental-scanning
|
||
- equal-profit-employment-choice
|
||
- exchange
|
||
- exchange-rate-mechanism
|
||
- exchangeable-value
|
||
- exchequer
|
||
- excise-duty-drawback
|
||
- exclusive-corporation
|
||
- export-bounty
|
||
- exportation-bounty
|
||
- exportation-of-gold-and-silver-as-effect-of-declension
|
||
- exportation-trade
|
||
- extraordinary-expense
|
||
- extraordinary-profits
|
||
- extraordinary-restraints-on-importation
|
||
- fairs-and-markets
|
||
- farm-rent
|
||
- farmer
|
||
- farmers-capital
|
||
- farmers-profit
|
||
- favour
|
||
- feudal-anarchy
|
||
- feudal-government-effects
|
||
- fixed-capital
|
||
- flax-grower
|
||
- fluctuations-in-value-of-gold-and-silver
|
||
- forced-corn-trade
|
||
- foreign-capital-exportation
|
||
- foreign-commerce-manufactures-birth
|
||
- foreign-commodities
|
||
- foreign-corn-importation-effects
|
||
- foreign-manufacture-prohibitions
|
||
- foreign-market
|
||
- foreign-sale-encouragement
|
||
- foreign-trade
|
||
- foreign-trade-enrichment-mechanism
|
||
- foreign-trade-of-consumption
|
||
- forestalling
|
||
- four-methods-of-employing-capital
|
||
- fraud-in-drawback-system
|
||
- free-burgh
|
||
- free-ports
|
||
- free-trade
|
||
- freeholder-yeomanry
|
||
- french-goods-export-restrictions
|
||
- frozen-ocean-barrier
|
||
- frugal-and-industrious-borrowers
|
||
- frugality-versus-prodigality
|
||
- fruit-garden
|
||
- fruit-wall
|
||
- funds-for-maintaining-labour
|
||
- funds-for-maintaining-productive-labour
|
||
- funds-for-maintaining-unproductive-hands
|
||
- gold-and-silver-as-measure-of-value
|
||
- gold-money
|
||
- gold-price-variation
|
||
- gradual-restoration-of-trade-freedom
|
||
- graziers-versus-manufacturers-interests
|
||
- gross-revenue
|
||
- hanseatic-league
|
||
- higgling-and-bargaining-of-the-market
|
||
- home-made-commodities
|
||
- home-market
|
||
- home-market-monopoly
|
||
- home-trade
|
||
- hop-garden
|
||
- human-folly-injustice-exposure
|
||
- human-nature
|
||
- idle-consumers
|
||
- immediate-consumption
|
||
- import-restraint
|
||
- importation-trade
|
||
- improved-farm-advantages
|
||
- improved-land
|
||
- improvement-of-the-country
|
||
- inclosure
|
||
- increase-of-money-as-effect-of-prosperity
|
||
- inland-corn-dealer
|
||
- inland-duty-drawback
|
||
- inland-market-limitation
|
||
- inland-navigation-extent
|
||
- inland-parts-of-the-country
|
||
- inland-trade
|
||
- inn-or-tavern-keeper
|
||
- instruments-of-husbandry
|
||
- interest
|
||
- interest-of-money
|
||
- interest-or-use-of-money
|
||
- invisible-hand-mechanism
|
||
- joint-stock-company
|
||
- journeymen
|
||
- judgment-in-labour-application
|
||
- kelp
|
||
- kitchen-garden
|
||
- labour-of-inspection-and-direction
|
||
- labouring-cattle
|
||
- labouring-poor
|
||
- land-carriage
|
||
- land-mines-and-fisheries
|
||
- landlord
|
||
- landlords-share
|
||
- law-of-primogeniture
|
||
- legal-rate-of-interest
|
||
- legal-tender
|
||
- licence-to-gather-natural-produce
|
||
- lowest-rate-of-wages
|
||
- machinery-invention
|
||
- madeira-wine-trade-exception
|
||
- manufactured-produce
|
||
- manufacturer
|
||
- manufacturers-monopoly-power
|
||
- manufacturing-capital
|
||
- manufacturing-process-subdivision
|
||
- manufacturing-subdivision
|
||
- maritime-commerce-development
|
||
- maritime-employment
|
||
- market-access-cost-structure
|
||
- market-access-development-sequence
|
||
- market-access-economic-potential
|
||
- market-access-gradient
|
||
- market-access-inequality
|
||
- market-access-opportunity-cost
|
||
- market-based-economic-geography
|
||
- market-based-economic-identity
|
||
- market-based-economic-structure
|
||
- market-based-productivity-limits
|
||
- market-based-specialisation
|
||
- market-communication-channels
|
||
- market-demand-regulation
|
||
- market-development-prerequisites
|
||
- market-driven-division
|
||
- market-extent
|
||
- market-extent-advantageousness
|
||
- market-extent-economic-impact
|
||
- market-extent-measurement
|
||
- market-for-surplus-produce
|
||
- market-integration-barriers
|
||
- market-integration-potential
|
||
- market-integration-timeline
|
||
- market-obstruction
|
||
- market-price-adjustment
|
||
- market-price-mechanism
|
||
- market-price-mechanism-for-rude-produce
|
||
- market-price-mechanism-regulation
|
||
- market-price-of-bullion
|
||
- market-price-of-commodities
|
||
- market-price-of-things
|
||
- market-price-regulation-mechanism
|
||
- market-proximity-advantage
|
||
- market-rate-of-interest
|
||
- market-regulation-of-prices
|
||
- market-separation
|
||
- market-size-economies
|
||
- market-size-specialisation-threshold
|
||
- market-size-specialization
|
||
- market-size-threshold
|
||
- market-town-economy
|
||
- market-town-formation
|
||
- masquerade-dress-trade
|
||
- master-artificer
|
||
- master-manufacturer
|
||
- materials-and-subsistence
|
||
- measure-of-exchangeable-value
|
||
- mediterranean-civilisation-pattern
|
||
- menial-servants
|
||
- mercantile-jealousy
|
||
- mercantile-system
|
||
- merchant
|
||
- merchant-capital
|
||
- merchant-carrier
|
||
- merchant-country-gentleman-transition
|
||
- merchantable-herrings
|
||
- metal-currency
|
||
- metayer
|
||
- military-assistance
|
||
- military-discipline
|
||
- military-employment
|
||
- mine-fertility
|
||
- mine-situation
|
||
- mint
|
||
- mint-price
|
||
- modern-states-inversion
|
||
- modern-system-of-political-economy
|
||
- modes-of-expense-affecting-public-opulence
|
||
- money
|
||
- money-as-instrument-of-commerce
|
||
- money-price-of-corn
|
||
- money-price-of-labour
|
||
- money-rent
|
||
- moneys-worth
|
||
- monied-interest
|
||
- monopoly-effects-on-market-price
|
||
- monopoly-effects-on-prices
|
||
- monopoly-of-sugar-trade
|
||
- monopoly-of-tobacco-trade
|
||
- monopoly-price-of-land
|
||
- mutual-gain-reciprocity
|
||
- mutual-good-offices
|
||
- mutual-servitude
|
||
- national-animosity-in-commerce
|
||
- national-animosity-in-trade-policy
|
||
- national-capital-composition
|
||
- national-economic-identity
|
||
- national-enrichment-through-neighbours-wealth
|
||
- national-prejudice-and-animosity-in-trade
|
||
- natural-advantages-in-trade
|
||
- natural-balance-of-employments
|
||
- natural-complement-of-riches
|
||
- natural-course-of-capital-employment
|
||
- natural-course-of-things
|
||
- natural-development-sequence
|
||
- natural-division-of-labour
|
||
- natural-employment-of-capital
|
||
- natural-inclinations-thwarting
|
||
- natural-liberty-in-banking
|
||
- natural-liberty-in-trade
|
||
- natural-market-advantages
|
||
- natural-order-inversion
|
||
- natural-order-of-economic-development
|
||
- natural-preference-cultivation
|
||
- natural-price-as-central-price
|
||
- natural-price-of-commodities
|
||
- natural-produce-of-land
|
||
- natural-progress-of-improvement
|
||
- natural-rates-of-wages-profit-and-rent
|
||
- natural-rent-of-land
|
||
- natural-state-of-employments
|
||
- navigable-rivers
|
||
- neat-revenue
|
||
- necessity
|
||
- nominal-measure-of-value
|
||
- nominal-price
|
||
- nominal-price-of-commodities
|
||
- non-enumerated-commodities
|
||
- non-standard-metal
|
||
- occasional-and-temporary-market-fluctuations
|
||
- old-subsidy-drawback-rules
|
||
- ordinary-market-price-of-land
|
||
- ordinary-profits-of-stock
|
||
- ordinary-rates-of-wages-profit-and-rent
|
||
- ordinary-state-of-employments
|
||
- original-destination-of-man
|
||
- original-government-manners
|
||
- overstocked-market-conditions
|
||
- paper-money
|
||
- pasture-land
|
||
- payment-in-kind
|
||
- perfect-liberty-in-trade
|
||
- permanent-market-price-enhancements
|
||
- perpetual-fund-for-maintenance-of-labour
|
||
- piece-work-wages
|
||
- pin-maker-trade
|
||
- planter-independence
|
||
- plate-household-silver
|
||
- poacher
|
||
- policy-closure
|
||
- political-arithmetic
|
||
- political-economy
|
||
- political-economy-objectives
|
||
- poll-tax
|
||
- poll-tax-compensation
|
||
- potato-cultivation
|
||
- precious-metals-consumption
|
||
- present-state-of-the-nation-analysis
|
||
- price-in-labour
|
||
- price-in-money
|
||
- price-of-commodities
|
||
- prime-cost-of-commodities
|
||
- principal-clerk
|
||
- principal-employments
|
||
- private-interest-monopoly-spirit
|
||
- private-misconduct-versus-public-prodigality
|
||
- prodigals
|
||
- prodigals-and-projectors
|
||
- productive-abilities
|
||
- productive-and-unproductive-labour
|
||
- productive-labourers
|
||
- productive-powers-of-labour
|
||
- profits-of-stock
|
||
- progress-of-opulence
|
||
- progressive-state-of-society
|
||
- progressive-wealth-consequentiality
|
||
- promissory-notes
|
||
- proportion-between-metals
|
||
- proportion-between-productive-and-unproductive-hands
|
||
- prudent-family-maxim
|
||
- public-education-of-professionals
|
||
- public-executioner
|
||
- public-fiars
|
||
- public-good-versus-private-interest
|
||
- public-law-on-coinage
|
||
- public-lottery
|
||
- public-mourning-effects
|
||
- public-registers-of-manufactures
|
||
- public-revenue
|
||
- public-services-funding
|
||
- public-tranquillity
|
||
- purveyance
|
||
- quantity-of-labour
|
||
- rate-of-interest
|
||
- rate-of-profit
|
||
- re-exportation-drawback
|
||
- real-exchange-rate
|
||
- real-measure-of-value
|
||
- real-price
|
||
- real-price-of-commodities
|
||
- real-value-of-corn-rent
|
||
- real-value-of-silver
|
||
- regulated-proportion
|
||
- religious-occupational-restrictions
|
||
- rent-of-land
|
||
- requisite-variety
|
||
- requisite-variety-in-banking
|
||
- restraints-upon-importation
|
||
- retail-trade
|
||
- retailers
|
||
- retainers-and-dependents-system
|
||
- retaliation-in-trade-policy
|
||
- revenue
|
||
- revenue-constituting-profit-and-rent
|
||
- revenue-destined-for-capital-replacement
|
||
- revenue-for-public-services
|
||
- revenue-or-subsistence-for-the-people
|
||
- revenue-versus-capital-effects
|
||
- rice-countries
|
||
- river-navigation-infrastructure
|
||
- round-about-foreign-trade-of-consumption
|
||
- rude-produce
|
||
- rural-urban-reciprocity
|
||
- scarcity-of-hands
|
||
- sea-coast-development
|
||
- sea-sticks
|
||
- security-preference-capital
|
||
- seed-as-fixed-capital
|
||
- seed-time-and-harvest-metaphor
|
||
- seignorage
|
||
- self-love
|
||
- servile-condition
|
||
- settlement-laws
|
||
- silver-money
|
||
- silver-price-variation
|
||
- skill-and-dexterity
|
||
- smuggling
|
||
- smuggling-as-principal-import-method
|
||
- smuggling-of-precious-metals
|
||
- smuggling-trade
|
||
- sober-people
|
||
- societys-general-stock
|
||
- sovereign-economic-policy-authority
|
||
- sovereign-parsimony
|
||
- spare-revenue
|
||
- specie
|
||
- specie-export-prohibition-effects
|
||
- species-of-industry-with-consistent-output
|
||
- species-of-industry-with-variable-output
|
||
- speculative-trade
|
||
- stamp-masters
|
||
- standard-metal
|
||
- standard-weight-of-coin
|
||
- state-or-commonwealth-revenue
|
||
- stationary-country
|
||
- statute-of-labourers
|
||
- statutes-of-apprenticeship-effects
|
||
- sterling-mark
|
||
- stock
|
||
- stock-lent-at-interest
|
||
- stock-of-the-country
|
||
- stock-of-the-farmer
|
||
- strategic-planning
|
||
- subsistence
|
||
- subsistence-agriculture
|
||
- subsistence-industry-priority
|
||
- subsistence-necessity-priority
|
||
- subsistence-of-the-dealer
|
||
- subsistence-prioritization
|
||
- sugar-colonies
|
||
- superfluity
|
||
- superior-hardship-and-superior-skill
|
||
- surplus-produce
|
||
- system-of-agriculture
|
||
- system-of-commerce
|
||
- systemic-stability
|
||
- taille
|
||
- tale
|
||
- temporary-price-of-corn
|
||
- temporary-statutes
|
||
- temporary-versus-permanent-price-effects
|
||
- territorial-cultivation-completeness
|
||
- territorial-cultivation-limit
|
||
- territorial-improvement-support
|
||
- territorial-support-limitation
|
||
- three-original-sources-of-revenue
|
||
- three-way-employment-of-stock
|
||
- thriving-country
|
||
- tobacco-colonies
|
||
- toil-and-trouble-of-acquiring
|
||
- tonnage-bounty
|
||
- town-country-dependency
|
||
- town-market-function
|
||
- town-reproduction-impossibility
|
||
- trade-as-union-and-friendship
|
||
- trade-balance-mechanism
|
||
- trade-capital
|
||
- trade-encouragement
|
||
- trade-route-dependency
|
||
- transportation-cost-differential
|
||
- transportation-infrastructure-importance
|
||
- transportation-mode-economic-effects
|
||
- treasure-accumulation
|
||
- treasure-trove
|
||
- treaty
|
||
- truck
|
||
- two-branches-of-circulation
|
||
- uncultivated-land-availability
|
||
- underling-tradesmen-maxims
|
||
- unimproved-land
|
||
- university-of-trades
|
||
- unproductive-labourers
|
||
- unstamped-bars
|
||
- urban-autonomy
|
||
- urban-rural-reciprocity
|
||
- usury
|
||
- value-in-exchange
|
||
- value-in-use
|
||
- value-of-gold
|
||
- value-of-silver
|
||
- variety-of-talents
|
||
- venison
|
||
- victuals
|
||
- villeinage
|
||
- vineyard
|
||
- wages-of-a-journeyman
|
||
- wages-of-labour
|
||
- waggon-way-through-the-air-metaphor
|
||
- warehouse-export-system
|
||
- warehouse-rent-for-bullion-deposits
|
||
- warehouse-system
|
||
- water-carriage
|
||
- water-pond-metaphor
|
||
- weighing
|
||
- whole-produce-of-labour
|
||
- wholesale-merchants
|
||
- wholesale-trade
|
||
- wood-price
|
||
- wool-grower
|
||
|
||
## Instructions
|
||
|
||
1. Read the source chapter carefully.
|
||
2. Review the list of existing entities above and do not duplicate them.
|
||
3. Identify all distinct economic concepts, actors, mechanisms, and institutions
|
||
that are NOT already in the existing entities list.
|
||
4. For each new entity, produce a separate markdown document following the
|
||
Economic Entity Schema v1.0.
|
||
5. Each entity document must include:
|
||
- An H1 heading with the entity name
|
||
- A Definition section (20-150 words)
|
||
- A Source Chapter section citing the specific chapter
|
||
- A Context section describing where in the argument the entity appears
|
||
- An Economic Domain section classifying the entity
|
||
6. Optionally include Smith's Original Wording (direct quote) and
|
||
Modern Interpretation sections.
|
||
7. Use neutral, analytical language throughout.
|
||
8. Ensure each entity is distinct and self-contained.
|
||
|
||
## Output Format
|
||
|
||
Output each entity as a separate markdown document, delimited by
|
||
`--- ENTITY: <entity-name> ---` markers.
|
||
|
||
Use **H2 headings** (`##`) for each section inside the entity document.
|
||
Do NOT use inline `Section:` format or H3 headings.
|
||
|
||
Example of a correctly formatted entity:
|
||
|
||
```
|
||
--- ENTITY: division of labour ---
|
||
|
||
# Division of Labour
|
||
|
||
## Definition
|
||
|
||
The separation of a work process into distinct tasks performed by specialised
|
||
workers, increasing productivity through greater dexterity, saved time, and
|
||
the invention of labour-saving machinery.
|
||
|
||
## Source Chapter
|
||
|
||
Book I, Chapter 1
|
||
|
||
## Context
|
||
|
||
The opening chapter's central argument, illustrated by Smith's pin factory
|
||
example showing how dividing 18 operations dramatically increases output.
|
||
|
||
## Economic Domain
|
||
|
||
Production
|
||
|
||
---
|
||
```
|