THEORY OF INTERNATIONAL VALUES
III1
The theories stated in two preceding articles are now to be-
sustained by, or maintained against, the authority of the principal
writers on the subject. They may be divided into two classes,
(I.) English and (II.) Continental ; a division almost coincident
with that between those who have not, and those who have
employed mathematical methods.
I. (1) Ricardo.—Foremost in the first class is the founder of
the theory, ’ ∙
Quo nihil majus generatur ipso,
Nec viget quidquam simile aut secundum.
The incomparable vigour of Ricardo’s chapter on foreign
trade has not been approached by any of his successors. The
main propositions of the theory—the principle of comparative
cost (M'Culloch’s edition, p. 77), the change in the quanti-
ties and prices of commodities consequent upon foreign trade
(p. 73, cf. p. 80 sub finem), the difference in the value of money
in different countries (p. 79 et sqqi'), are stated by Ricardo more
briefly, and perhaps more clearly, than by J. S. Mill. Mill
seems to have the advantage only in one respect ; his recognition
of the case in which an impediment to trade may be beneficial—
or an improvement prejudicial—to one of the countries. It
may be observed that the circumstance on which this property
depends, the demand in the other country being ‘ increased
in a greater proportion than the cheapness,’ to use Mill’s
phrase (PoZ. Econ. xviii. § 5), did not escape Ricardo (p. 73,
par. 2).
The only scruples which the chapter may excite are removed
by recollecting Ricardo’s peculiar phraseology : the sense in which
he employs the terms ‘ value,’2 and ‘ wages ’ or ‘ real wages,’8 and.
ɪ See Econ. Journal, 1894, March and September.
2 Cf. Ricardo, Pol. Econ., ch. xx. 3 Cf. Ricardo, p. 82, par. 2.