Econlib

The Library

Other Sites

Front Page arrow Titles (by Subject) arrow Part I, Chapter VIII: Some Handicrafts-Men earn more, others less, according to the different Cases and Circumstances - Essai sur la Nature du Commerce en Général

Return to Title Page for Essai sur la Nature du Commerce en Général

Search this Title:

Also in the Library:

Subject Area: Economics

Part I, Chapter VIII: Some Handicrafts-Men earn more, others less, according to the different Cases and Circumstances - Richard Cantillon, Essai sur la Nature du Commerce en Général [1755]

Edition used:

Essai sur la Nature du Commerce en General, edited with an English translation and other material by Henry Higgs, C.B. Reissued for The Royal Economic Society by Frank Cass and Co., LTD., London. 1959.

About Liberty Fund:

Liberty Fund, Inc. is a private, educational foundation established to encourage the study of the ideal of a society of free and responsible individuals.


Part I, Chapter VIII

Some Handicrafts-Men earn more, others less, according to the different Cases and Circumstances

Supposing two Tailors make all the cloaths of a Village, one may have more customers than the other, whether from his mode of attracting business, or because he works better or more durably than the other, or follows the fashions better in the cut of the garments.

If one dies, the other finding himself more pressed with work will be able to raise the price of his labour, giving some customers a preference in point of expedition to others, till the Villagers find it to their advantage to have their cloaths made in another Village, Town, or City losing the time spent in going and returning, or till some other Tailor comes to live in their Village and to share in the business of it.

The Crafts which require the most Time in training or most Ingenuity and Industry must necessarily be the best paid. A skillful Cabinet-Maker must receive a higher price for his work than an ordinary Carpenter, and a good Watchmaker more than a Farrier.

The Arts and Crafts which are accompanied by risks and dangers like those of Founders, Mariners, Silver miners, etc. ought to be paid in proportion to the risks. When over and above the dangers skill is needed they ought to be paid still more, e.g. Pilots, Divers, Engineers, etc. When Capacity and trustworthiness are needed the labour is paid still more highly, as in the case of Jewellers, Bookkeepers, Cashiers and others.

By these examples and a hundred others drawn from ordinary experience it is easily seen that the difference of price paid for daily work is based upon natural and obvious reasons.