L' Allemagne économique ou histoire du Zollverein Allemand

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Monograph

Identifikator:: 832279064

URN:: urn:nbn:de:zbw-retromon-64432

Document type:: Monograph

Author:: Worms, Émile

Title:: L' Allemagne économique ou histoire du Zollverein Allemand

Place of publication:: Paris

Publisher:: Ainé

Year of publication:: 1874

Scope:: 1 Online-Ressource (VII, 631 S)

Collection:: Economics Books

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126 THE WORK OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE value in the daily work of the “Street,” are nevertheless too superficial and mechanical to penetrate to the bottom of the matter. Distinction Between Speculation and Gambling.—Com- ing now to the equally important distinction between specula- ion and gambling, this is not only clear in theory but, despite a few technical details, also quite clear in practice. There are at least four principal differences between speculation and gambling : 1. Speculation necessarily involves the purchase or sale of some form of property, while gambling does not. 2. The risks assumed by the speculator arise fundamentally from risks inherent in the property which he buys or sells, while the risks of gambling are created by the gambler and are based upon future events without any necessary relation to ownership of property. 3. The speculator’s buying or selling operations affect the forces of supply and demand, and tend to bring about the very change in price for which he hopes, while the bets placed by the gambler have no effect whatsoever in determining the actual outcome of the fortuitous events upon which he stakes his money. In other words, a speculator who purchases 100 shares of Northern Pacific because he anticipates a rise in its price, assists by this very purchase in bringing about the rising market for which he hopes, while a gambler who bets $10 that it will rain next Thursday, or that Yale will win the Harvard football game, exerts absolutely no effect upon atmospheric conditions, and in no way strengthens the sinews of the team of his preference. 4. In gambling transactions the winner makes what the loser loses. But in speculation, in the alternate rise and fall of prices, there are occasions where practically everyone profits, and where practically everyone incurs losses. Gambling has no =conomic justification, except when it is organized as insurance. But speculation is a profoundly necessary economic force.

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