[12 ECONOMIC PRINCIPLES

fares. It is not that high rents compel high prices, but
that the chances of doing a large business at ordinary prices
make it worth while paying a high rent for the site, Some
apparent exceptions may be found in limited areas in some
cities where there may be found shops which are specially
frequented by wealthy shoppers. If there be, and there
sometimes are, considerable numbers of shoppers who will
not be driven elsewhere by high prices, such shops may be
able to raise their prices above the general level. The habits
of the fashionable shopping world may thus lead to high
prices in the highly-rented shops, but the high level of prices
cannot be said to be caused by the high level of rents.
Rather is the opposite the case. Custom enables a large
business to be done on these sites at peculiarly remunerative
prices, and thus gives them a special value, This is reflected
in the rents, which are able to be offered because of the
profitable character of the business opportunities afforded,
and which are, of course, demanded by owners conscious
that the demand for such rents will not risk failure to secure
tenants.
Some attention has been given to the influence of
increasing population, as shown in increasing demand for
the produce of the soil (and for room to live) in raising rents,
Recent history has made prominent an equally important
influence tending to lower rents, to which attention should
also be directed. So far as some parts of urban areas are
concerned, the improved facilities of transit, which are now
being provided, have relieved the pressure on space for
residential purposes, and thus tended to lower rents for such
purposes. The same cause has increased the value of
central sites for business purposes, by rendering them more
easily accessible from greater distances, and by larger
numbers of people. But it is in regard to agricultural land
that improved facilities for communication, and cheapened
transport, have produced the most profound effect on values
and rents. Readiness of access to market is less dependent
on mere nearness than formerly. Extensive areas of fertile
land, which can be cultivated at small cost, are now able to
contribute to the supply of markets formerly dependent