Page:Indian Journal of Economics Volume 2.djvu/662

 644 BALKRISHNA causes of market grouped together in Who does not now change that of circumstahces, different countries fluctuations, have the words know that &nd been naively of time and place. prices vary with a with time and place, different parts of the he same ime same country have different prices at and that prices also change in the same country with the lapse of time. With all this commonplace know- ledge Sukra brings out the essential idea that mar- ket prices oscillate and can be fixed only by refer- ence to the circumstances altered by time and place. Further on he emphasizes and clearly expresses this idea by writing that "Scholars .know that the prices of all things are ever settled by circumstances (Loka)" (IV. 2. 107). Beltion of $upl!t nd Denrand to P'/ce.---The four fundamental laws expressive of the relation of the supply, demand and value have been implied, though not expressly stated, in the following aphorism of Kautilya: "One should know the occasions of increasing and decreasing his supply and demand, as well as of sale and purchase." We are of opinion that such laws as supply increases with a rise and decreases with a fall of prices, while demand falls off with a rise and goes up with a fall of prices, and their contrary laws, have evidently been referred to in the above aphorism. Items of Comneia Cost--Kautilya has twice mentioned a few items of expenditure incurred by the supplier of a commodity and often paid for by the purchaser. Their enumeration cannot but be interesting to the modern reader:- "Having ascertained the value of local produce as compared with that of fogeign produce that can be