THE WEALTH OK NATIONS.
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times be scarce perceptible; because in this case the trans-portation will be easy. China is a much richer country thanun y part of Europe , and the difference between the price ofsubsistence in China and in Europe is very great. Rice inChina is much cheaper than wheat is anywhere in Europe .England is a much richer country than Scotland ; but thedifference between the money price of corn in those two coun-ts is much smaller, and is but just perceptible. In pro-portion to the quantity or measure, Scotch corn generally ap-pears to be a good deal cheaper than English ; but in pro-portion to its quality, it is certainly somewhat dearer. Scot-and receives almost every year, very large supplies from Eng-jfnd, and every commodity must commonly be somewhatNearer in the country to which it is brought than in that from^uich it comes. English corn, therefore, must be dearer inGotland than in England, and yet in proportion to its quality,0r fe the quantity and goodness of the flour or meal whichcan be made from it, it cannot commonly be sold higher. lere than the Scotch corn which comes to market in compe-t'd * 1 with it.
t he difference between the money price of labour in China and hi Europe , is still greater than that between the moneyPrice of subsistence; because the real recompense of labour^ higher in Europe than in China, the greater part of Europe emg i n an i m p rov i n g state, while China seems to be stand-^ ®tdl. The money price of labour is lower in Scotland an m England, because the real recompense of labour isUch lower; Scotland , though advancing to greater wealth,advances much more slowly than England. The frequencyemigra ion rom Scotland, and the rarity of it from Eng -and, sufficiently prove that the demand for labour is verydifferent m the two countries. The proportion between thedial recompense of labour in different countries, it must bere membered, is naturally regulated, not by their actual wealth0r poverty, but by their advancing, stationary, or decliningEdition. “
G °ld and silver, as they are naturally of the greatest value°dg the richest, so they are naturally of the least valuea n ° n § the poorest nations. Among savages, the poorest ofnations, they are of scarce any value,of ^ reat towns corn is always dearer than in remote partscC COuntr y; This however is the effect, not of the realPness of silver, but of the real dearness of corn. It docs
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