receiving country, while the latter, besides receiving the tribute, obtains the exportable produce of the tributary country at a lower price.
Chapter XVIII. Influence Of The Currency On The Exchanges And On Foreign Trade.
§ 1. Variations in the exchange, which originate in the Currency.
In our inquiry into the laws of international trade, we commenced with the principles which determine international exchanges and international values on the hypothesis of barter. We next showed that the introduction of money, as a medium of exchange, makes no difference in the laws of exchanges and of values between country and country, no more than between individual and individual: since the precious metals, under the influence of those same laws, distribute themselves in such proportions among the different countries of the world as to allow the very same exchanges to go on, and at the same values, as would be the case under a system of barter. We lastly considered how the value of money itself is affected by those alterations in the state of trade which arise from alterations either in the demand and supply of commodities or in their cost