235. Is the rate of interest affected by the supply of the precious metals?
236. What determines the rate of interest on the loanable funds? Is the “current [or ordinary] rate of interest the measure of the relative abundance or scarcity of capital”?
237. What are the chief causes that determine the rate of interest?
238. If it be true that in America every man, however rich, is engaged in some business, but that in England many rich men have no trade or profession, how is the rate of interest in each country affected in consequence, and why?
239. How does a fall in the purchasing power of money tend to affect, if at all, and why, (1) the rate of interest, (2) the price of land, (3) the price of government bonds, (4) the price of gold and silver ornaments and plate?
Foreign Competition.
240. Explain the grounds of Mr. Mill's proposition that general low wages never caused any country to undersell its rivals, nor did general high wages ever hinder it from doing so. If you think the proposition needs qualification, give your reason.
241. (1.) What is the true theory of one country underselling another in a foreign market? (2.) What weight should be attributed to the fact of generally higher or lower wages in one of the competing countries?
242. Discuss the question whether a high rate of wages necessarily lays the commerce of a country under a disadvantage with reference to a country where the rate of wages is lower.
243. What are the conditions under which one country can permanently undersell another in a foreign market?