Page:Celebration of the Five Hundredth Anniversary of Foundation, University of St. Andrews.djvu/152

 lo IS INCREASING UTILITY POSSIBLE? but one as much as he would give the stock-holder from whom he acquires the final block of stock. Thus all through, if he were pushed to it, he would give advancing prices for each successive purchase — a conclusion that has been abundantly confirmed by the course of prices of certain stocks in Wall Street in the not-distant past. Finally, this manufacturer is, in technical language, a consumer of the commodity known as stock in the particular company he is endeavouring to con- trol; and it follows that, from his being willing to give advancing prices (if he cannot obtain what he needs at less), he receives an increasing utility. If then my analysis, and the reasoning founded on it, is accurate, there is not only a possibility of increasing Utility, but cases can be adduced in which the tendency shows itself, while some hints can be discovered of the reasons that bring it into existence. The discovery of this principle introduces a symmetry hitherto wanting in the theory of Economics. There is both diminishing and increasing return, and now, if my conclusions are well-founded, we have to balance this diminishing and increasing Utility. Further, it results from the previous analysis that increasing Utility sometimes involves an element of monopoly in consumption — thus I think the theory of monopoly can be extended in some directions from Production to Consumption. Finally, though these reflections and suggestions are highly theoretical, the establishment of Increasing Utility will have some not unimportant practical results in relation to taxation. GLASGOW : PRINTED AT THE UNIVEKSITV PRESS BV ROBERT MACLF.HOSE AND CO. LTD.