A Cambridge man, one for whom Mr. Keynes might otherwise admire once wrote:
“Although the price of provisions is at present very high, they cannot with propriety be said to be dear. Nothing is properly dear, except some commodity, which either from real or fictitious scarcity bears a higher price than other things in the same country, at the same time. In the reign of Henry II the value of money was about fifteen times greater than in the present age: a fowl then was sold for a penny, which cannot now be bought under fifteen pence; but fowls are not for that reason dearer now, than they were at that time; because one penny was then earned with as much labour, and when earned would fetch as much of everything at market, as fifteen will in these days.”
Soame Jenyns, Thoughts on the Causes and Consequences of the Recent High Price of Provisions, 1767
“Although the price of provisions is at present very high, they cannot with propriety be said to be dear. Nothing is properly dear, except some commodity, which either from real or fictitious scarcity bears a higher price than other things in the same country, at the same time. In the reign of Henry II the value of money was about fifteen times greater than in the present age: a fowl then was sold for a penny, which cannot now be bought under fifteen pence; but fowls are not for that reason dearer now, than they were at that time; because one penny was then earned with as much labour, and when earned would fetch as much of everything at market, as fifteen will in these days.”
Soame Jenyns, Thoughts on the Causes and Consequences of the Recent High Price of Provisions, 1767
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