Si l'on trouvait en France une mine d'or, il ne s'ensuit pas que nous eussions intérêt à l'exploiter. Il est même certain que l'entreprise devrait être négligée, si chaque once d'or absorbait plus de notre travail qu'une once d'or achetée au Mexique avec du drap. En ce cas, il vaudrait mieux continuer à voir nos mines dans nos métiers. — Ce qui est vrai de l'or l'est du fer.
"If someone found a gold mine in France, it does not follow that it would be to our interest to work it. In fact, it is certain that the enterprise should not be undertaken if each ounce of gold absorbed more of our labor than would an ounce of gold bought from Mexico with cloth. In that case it would be better to continue to regard our looms as gold mines. And what is true of gold is no less true of iron."
Chapitre XVII de la seconde série des Sophismes Économiques/Economic Sophisms, II.17.11
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
The Quotable Bastiat
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2 comments:
Hi Ben,
Your site is one of the best on the web, short and to the point. I'm going to chat it up on some of the other sites that I visit. If more people read Bastiat we would be better off as I society as a whole.
Thanks. Don't forget to subscribe and join the Bastiat Society email list.
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