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most  capable  operatives  from  getting  the  full
value  of  their  differential  advantages  ;  but
it  must  not  be  taken  for  granted  that  such
restraints  are  necessarily  without  beneficial
results.
The  personal  rent  enjoyed  by  an  employer
is  naturally  a  more  substantial  quantity  than
any  personal  rent  enjoyed  by  a  workman.
A  very  capable  employer  will  ultimately  have
under  his  control  a  far  greater  quantity  of
agents  in  production  than  the  marginal  employer. ­
  Though  the  very  capable  employer
with  a  small  business  might  immensely  magnify
his  earnings  by  enlarging  it,  the  marginal
employer  would  find  that  any  attempt  on  his
part  to  do  the  same  would  meet  with  loss
instead  of  gain.
Whether  regarded  broadly  or  narrowly,  the
rent  paid  for  a  productive  agent  does  not  determine ­
  the  price  of  the  thing  to  the  creation  of
which  it  is  instrumental.  In  this  sentence  we
have  presented  to  us  one  of  the  most  famous
dogmas  of  economics.  Not  uncommonly  it
has  been  expressed  thus  :  “  rent  does  not  enter
into  price.”  In  this  form,  however,  it  invites
misunderstanding.  The  rent  of  farm  land
and  business  premises  must  come  out  of  the
receipts  made  up  of  the  prices  of  things,  since