OF VALUE.

197

arises, is analogous to the extraordinary remu-
neration which an artizan of more than common
dexterity obtains beyond the wages given to
workmen of ordinary skill. In so far as com-
petition cannot reach them, the owner of the
rich soil and the possessor of the extraordinary
skill obtain a monopoly price. In the one case
this monopoly is bounded by the existence of
inferior soils, in the other of inferior degrees of
dexterity.

It has been made a question, whether rent
forms a component part of the price or value of
produce. “ Rent,” says Mr. Ricardo, ¢ does
not and cannot enter in the least degree as a
component part of its price.” The expression
is in reality figurative, and the only meaning
of the assertion, that rent is a component part
of price, must be, that it is one of the causes
of the value of produce. But we have just
seen that rent is a consequence of the extraor-
dinary value of a monopolized commodity, and
it cannot therefore be one of the causes of its
value. Although not the cause of the value of