Book contents
- Frontmatter
- PREFACE
- Contents
- CONVERSATION I INTRODUCTION
- CONVERSATION II INTRODUCTION—continued
- CONVERSATION III ON PROPERTY
- CONVERSATION IV PROPERTY—continued
- CONVERSATION V ON THE DIVISION OF LABOUR
- CONVERSATION VI ON CAPITAL
- CONVERSATION VII CAPITAL—continued
- CONVERSATION VIII ON WAGES AND POPULATION
- CONVERSATION IX WAGES AND POPULATION—continued
- CONVERSATION X ON THE CONDITION OF THE POOR
- CONVERSATION XI ON REVENUE
- CONVERSATION XII REVENUE FROM LANDED PROPERTY
- CONVERSATION XIII REVENUE FROM THE CULTIVATION OF LAND
- CONVERSATION XIV REVENUE FROM CAPITAL LENT
- CONVERSATION XV ON VALUE AND PRICE
- CONVERSATION XVI ON MONEY
- CONVERSATION XVII MONEY—continued
- CONVERSATION XVIII COMMERCE
- CONVERSATION XIX ON FOREIGN TRADE
- CONVERSATION XX FOREIGN TRADE—cont.
- CONVERSATION XXI ON EXPENDITURE
- INDEX
CONVERSATION XII - REVENUE FROM LANDED PROPERTY
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 07 September 2011
- Frontmatter
- PREFACE
- Contents
- CONVERSATION I INTRODUCTION
- CONVERSATION II INTRODUCTION—continued
- CONVERSATION III ON PROPERTY
- CONVERSATION IV PROPERTY—continued
- CONVERSATION V ON THE DIVISION OF LABOUR
- CONVERSATION VI ON CAPITAL
- CONVERSATION VII CAPITAL—continued
- CONVERSATION VIII ON WAGES AND POPULATION
- CONVERSATION IX WAGES AND POPULATION—continued
- CONVERSATION X ON THE CONDITION OF THE POOR
- CONVERSATION XI ON REVENUE
- CONVERSATION XII REVENUE FROM LANDED PROPERTY
- CONVERSATION XIII REVENUE FROM THE CULTIVATION OF LAND
- CONVERSATION XIV REVENUE FROM CAPITAL LENT
- CONVERSATION XV ON VALUE AND PRICE
- CONVERSATION XVI ON MONEY
- CONVERSATION XVII MONEY—continued
- CONVERSATION XVIII COMMERCE
- CONVERSATION XIX ON FOREIGN TRADE
- CONVERSATION XX FOREIGN TRADE—cont.
- CONVERSATION XXI ON EXPENDITURE
- INDEX
Summary
CAROLINE
I HAVE been reflecting much upon the subject of revenue, Mrs. B.; but I cannot comprehend how farmers can afford to pay their rent if they do not make more than the usual profits of capital. I had imagined that they began by raising greater produce from the same capital than merchants or manufacturers, but that the deduction of their rent eventually reduced their profits below those of other branches of industry.
MRS. B
You were right in the first part of your conjecture, but how did you account for the folly of farmers in chusing a mode of employing their capital which after payment of their rent yielded them less than the usual rate of profit?
CAROLINE
I believe that I did not consider that point. I had some vague idea of the superior security of landed property; and then I thought they might be influenced by the pleasures of a country life.
MRS. B
Vague ideas will not enable us to trace inferences with accuracy, and to guard against them we should avoid the use of vague and indeterminate expressions. For instance — when you speak of the security of landed property being advantageous to a farmer, you do not consider that in the capacity of farmer a man possesses no landed property; he rents his farm; if he purchases it, he is a landed proprietor as well as a farmer. It is not therefore the security of landed property which is beneficial to a farmer, but the security or small risk in the raising and disposing of his crops.
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- Chapter
- Information
- Conversations on Political EconomyIn Which the Elements of that Science are Familiarly Explained, pp. 189 - 212Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2010First published in: 1816