Portal:Capitalism/Selected quote/46

“ THERE ARE VILLAGES WHERE markets have been established by the interest of some property owner or royal resident. These markets, held once or twice a week, encourage several little entrepreneurs and merchants to establish themselves there. In the market, they buy the products brought from the surrounding villages in order to transport them to the large towns for sale. In the large towns, they exchange them for iron, salt, sugar and other merchandise, which they sell on market days to the villagers. Many small artisans, like locksmiths, cabinetmakers and others, also settle down in these places to serve the villagers, and, as a result, these villages become market towns. A market town being located in the center of the villages whose people come to the market, it is natural and easier for the villagers to bring their products for sale on market days and to buy the articles they need, than it would be for the merchants and entrepreneurs to transport the merchandise to the villages and exchange them for the villagers' products. ” — Richard Cantillon (1680 – 1734)
Essay on the Nature of Trade in General , 1755