Essentials of Economics
A BRIEF SURVEY OF PRINCIPLES AND POLICIES

Essentials of Economics
A BRIEF SURVEY OF PRINCIPLES AND POLICIES

Essentials of Economics
A BRIEF SURVEY OF PRINCIPLES AND POLICIES

As far back as we go in our study of the way mankind has
lived, from the earliest reaches of recorded history and even from
the times of the prehistoric monuments studied by archeology,
we find men applying their labor to the resources of Nature in
order to satisfy their needs. That is to say, we find them producing
—even if only by bagging game or catching fish or gathering
from fields and forests the wood and the wild fruits they found
growing there, transporting these to the place where they were
to be consumed, and then treating them as marketable commodities—and
we
find
them
exchanging
their
produce
with
other
men,
whether
directly
by
barter
or
indirectly
through
the
medium
of
a
neutral
commodity,
viz.,
money.
We
find
them,
too,
competing
in
offer
and
demand,
according
to
the
conditions
of
scarcity
or
abundance
in
the
supply
of
specific
goods,
and
exercising
the
right
of
choice—the
producer
producing
what
he
expects
will yield him the greatest profit, and the consumer buying what
seems to him cheapest and most suitable to his needs.

FAUSTINO BALLVE