Book 5
13
That it is demand which, by serving as a single standard, holds such an association together, is shown by the fact that, when there is no demand for mutual service on the part of both or at least of one of the parties, no exchange takes place between them [as when someone needs something that one has oneself, for instance the state offering a license to export corn in exchange for wine].The clauses bracketed make neither grammar nor sense, and have justly been suspected as interpolated. Munscher inserts a negative: Just as there is no exchange when the producer wants what the consumer has 〈not〉 got, for example, when one state needs wine while another can only offer corn for export. But there seems to be no question here of foreign commerce. This inequality of demand has therefore to be equalized.
