would engage their capital in the business. If, on the contrary, a business is not considered thriving; if the chances of profit in it are thought to be inferior to those in other employments; capital gradually leaves it, or at least new capital is not attracted to it; and by this change in the distribution of [pg 222] capital between the less profitable and the more profitable employments, a sort of balance is restored.
This equalizing process, commonly described as the