Principles of Political Economy · John Stuart Mill
FOREIGN COMPETITION.
240. Explain the grounds of Mr. Mill’s proposition that general low wages never caused any country to undersell its rivals, nor did general high wages ever hinder it from doing so. If you think the proposition needs qualification, give your reason. 241. (1.) What is the true theory of one country underselling another in a foreign market? (2.) What weight should be attributed to the fact of generally higher or lower wages in one of the competing countries? 242. Discuss the question whether a high rate of wages necessarily lays the commerce of a country under a disadvantage with reference to a country where the rate of wages is lower. 243. What are the conditions under which one country can permanently undersell another in a foreign market? 244. Point out distinctly the connection between the money wages of laborers in the United States and the productiveness of the soil. 245. In the Eastern States iron-molders earn from fourteen to seventeen dollars a week; in California their wages run from twenty-one to twenty-seven dollars. Account for this variation.
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