RICARDO'S THEORY OF RENT.
73
tlie people ; and another proof is afforded by tlie
increase of the number of marriages as corn falls in
price. But it is by no means necessary that a de-
creased cost in the production of food should be
followed by a corresponding increase in population ;
agricultural produce may be used to feed other
animals as well as man ; the use of domestic animals
may increase, and there may be an increased eon-
sumption of agricultural luxuries ; and everything
tends to show that in the progress of society the
" standard of wretchedness " tends to rise, and pre-
ventive to be substituted for positive checks. Aceord-
ingly, so far as the pressure of population is concerned,
it is quite possible that in the future " economie
rents" will tend to fall, and a Government speculating
for the rise in " unearned increments " on this ground
alone might make a serious mistake, espeeially if the
probable appreciation of gold be taken into account.
(Cf. Ch. xii.)
The famous paradox of Bicardo that improvements
tend in the first place to lower rent is not always
true even theoretically, and applied to " economie "
rent in the strictest sense. Ricardo's argument runs
as follows : "In a country which produces its own
food the immediate effect of a sudden improvement
in the arts of cultivation [supposed to be universally
adopted] would be to lower the price of agricultural
produce, to make it unprofitable to apply so much
capital as before to good land, and to throw some