Essentials of Economics
       abriefsurveyofprinciplesandpolicies
                     by
              faustino ballvé
         Translated from the Spanish and Edited by
               ARTHURGODDARD
           d. van nostrand company, inc.
               princeton, new jersey
       toronto                  london
                   newyork
                 D. VANNOSTRANDCOMPANY,INC.
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               D. Van Nostrand Company(Canada),Ltd.
             358, Kensington High Street, London, W.14, England
                  D. Van Nostrand CompanyLtd.
                 25Hollinger Road, Toronto 16, Canada
                           c
                      Copyright, 
 1963 by
                     WILLIAMVOLKERFUND
                  Published simultaneously in Canada by
                 D. Van Nostrand Company(Canada),Ltd.
           No reproduction in any form of this book, in whole or in part
           (except for brief quotation in critical articles or reviews), may be
           made without written authorization from the publishers.
                 1st edition, Mexico, 1956—10,000 copies
                 2ndedition, Mexico, 1961—5,000 copies
                 3rd edition, Mexico, 1961—5,000 copies
                 French translation, Paris, Sélif, 1957
                 Spanish editions in Buenos Aires and Guatemala
                andinpreparation in Colombia
                 Translations in preparation in Germany, Brazil,
                andJapan
               printed in the united states of america
                Foreword
      Faustino Ballvé was one of those rare scholars who instinctively
      avoidthepitfallsofspecialization;whohavethegiftofintegrating
      the divisions of learning simply, yet without oversimplification.
      This was the talent that gave the leaders of the Renaissance their
      stature. Of Professor Ballvé it could be said, as in the characteri-
      zation that gives a contemporary play about Sir Thomas More its
      title, that he was indeed “a Man for All Seasons.”
       Like Erasmus before him, Professor Ballvé spoke not for any
      narrow, nationalistic culture, but for the spirit of Western Civiliza-
      tion as a whole. Born in Barcelona, in 1887, he trained first as a
      lawyer, took his doctorate in Madrid, and then proceeded for fur-
      ther study first to Berlin and then to London. It was in England
      that, with a seasoned juristic background, he first specialized in
      the study of economics.
       The practitioners of that science, whether of the left or the
      right, have done all too much to justify the adjective “dismal”
      that was applied to it in Ballvé’s youth. The more credit to him
      for bringing to the subject not only the clarity and precision of a
      first-class legal mind, but also the spiritual warmth of a political
      idealist.
       While still in his ’teens the young Ballvé had edited a republi-
      can paper, and in the stormy thirties, as the clouds of civil war
      closed over Spain, he was elected a deputy of that party. But
      there was no place for this true liberal when the struggle degen-
      erated into a power contest between Fascism and Communism.
      Leaving his native land forever, Ballvé went first to France and
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