CHAPTER  VII
WAGES,  PROFITS  AND  INTEREST
The  economics  of  distribution  explains  the
sharing  out  of  the  wealth  produced  by  a
community.  We  may  think  of  the  various
individuals  in  a  community  as  working  together
with  suitable  appliances  to  make  the  incomes
upon  which  they  live.  The  generalisations
relating  to  their  activities,  when  they  are  thus
engaged,  constitute  the  economics  of  production. ­
  What  is  produced  is  called  the  national
dividend  or  the  national  income.  Generalisations ­
  relating  to  the  processes  whereby  the
national  income  is  divided  up  constitute  the
economics  of  distribution.  Only  it  is  important
to  observe  that  the  processes  of  production
and  distribution  go  on  continuously.  We  all
know  that  it  is  not  a  fact  that  production  for
a  common  stock  continues  for  a  time  and  then
ceases  while  the  division  of  the  stock  is  being
arranged.  The  process  of  its  division  is
continuous  with  the  process  of  its  production.
What  exactly  is  implied  by  this  statement  we
shall  realise  more  fully  as  we  advance.
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