20. “If there are human beings capable of work, and food to feed them, they may always be employed in producing something.” Explain the meaning of this fully.
21. What is meant by saying wealth can only perform the functions of capital by being wholly or partially consumed?
22. Explain and illustrate the statement that demand for commodities is not demand for labor.
23. Show that expenditure of money does not necessarily increase the demand for labor.
24. In what way would a general demand for luxuries affect productive laborers and the wealth of the community?
25. In a community where capital is all employed, what would be the effect if one employer gradually withdrew some of his capital, and spent this for personal luxuries?
26. It is contended that “the demand for commodities, which can only be got by labor, is as much a demand for labor as a demand for beef is a demand for bullocks.” Criticise this position.
27. “It is often said that, though employment is withdrawn from labor in one department, an exactly equivalent employment is opened for it in others, because what the consumers save in the increased cheapness of one particular article enables them to augment their consumption of others, thereby increasing the demand for other kinds of labor.” Point out the fallacy.
28. A college undergraduate, with the applause of shopkeepers, bought twenty waistcoats, under the plea that he was doing good to trade. Examine the economical soundness of his act.
29. A man invested a portion of his capital in a loan to a state which subsequently repudiated its debts. The man thereupon gave up his carriage, discharged superfluous gardeners, and reduced the number of his domestic servants. Examine the effect of these changes on the employment of labor in the district where he resides.