Page:Indian Journal of Economics Volume 2.djvu/133

 ILATIN TO INDI wi which coonernie eneralizions have o be taken. Taking an example from the pamphlet under review, we find that the very first "circle" runs thus:-- "Demand is great--Prices rise--Supply increases---But Demand falls--Prices fall--Supply dminishes---Demaud bemea gret." Now in the first plaoo we fail to see any relation betwssn he first wo pars o! he circle, i. Demand is great--Prices rise." I is he ;creaze or dec,,ease of demand--amongs several factors--which eausos a rse or fall of Prices, no is absolute greatness or smallness. As a matr o! he, oo, the expression "Demand is grea" is hardly definite enough for seienfie purposes. But we have a much more fundamental eriie_sm of Mr. aayee's "circle", h that it is not a circle at all, because there is no ncessary causal seqnenee o! the events he' names. "Demand increases; prices rise; supply increases" would be correct; but to state next that .demand falls is a pure assumption--the assumed fall of demand is not a consequence of the increase of supply. I fact in so far as demand does alter as a es o/ an increase of supply it is almost always increased, because with a lower price people become accustomed to using or consuming the commodity. A possible exception would be &rtieles which were fashionable only whilst rare and expensive. But, of course, most change8 of demand do not depend on the supply at all. Mr. Yajpayee finishes up with another extraordinary assumption--that "demand becomes great" because supply diminishes. There are some real economic circles of cause and effect--particularly in connection with the population and wages questions and the staudard of living; but these the author has stated ouly partially. and with very inadequate explanation. His so-called "recipes" are merely mnemonics, chosen quite at random. There is in fact not an ounce of scholarship in the pamphlet; and we regret that a professor in a miss/on college should have allowed. his name to appear in it as author of. a brief preface. Pblo A drainistration in A noient btia. By PR&MATHANATH BAS.aJ]A. London: [aemillan & Co. 1916. 7s. 6d. net. Dr. Banerjea has succeeded in produciug a learned and interesting book, and there is much that is attractive about. his attmmpt to apply the nomenclature of modern. Social.