Note 123 — Chapter VII · THE EMPIRICAL THEORY AS DEVELOPED BY MALTHUS.

We have not happened upon a passage by Ricardo referring to the third count, respecting good and bad crops, but Ricardo would undoubtedly have considered that it did not invalidate his position. If agricultural capital and labor remain the same in quantity while good and bad crops alternate, the cost of production per unit of crop varies as well as the price. When the wheat crop is good the cost per bushel is low. The price per bushel would also be low. If good crops mean low cost and low value at the same time, they probably do not mean sinking of value and cost in the same degree. The consequent deviation of value from cost is probably what Malthus had in mind.