7:The Labor of the Plowman is of Less Value than that of the Artisan
Abstract: T he opportunity cost of becoming a skilled worker includes both the direct expenses as well as the foregone labor during the training period or apprenticeship. As a result, skilled workers must be paid higher wages than unskilled workers. A lab orer ’s s on, a t seven to twelve years of age, begins to help his father either in keeping the herds, digging the ground, or in other sorts of country labor that require no art or skill. If his father has him taught a trade, he loses his assistance during the time of his apprenticeship and is obligated to clothe him and to pay the expenses of his apprenticeship for many years.9 The son is thus dependent on his father and his labor brings in no advantage for several years. The [working] life of man is estimated at only 10 or 12 years, and as several are lost in learning a trade, most of which in England require seven years of apprenticeship, a plowman would never be willing to have a trade taught to his son if the artisans did not earn more than the plowmen.
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9 This is where Cantillon explains the opportunity cost of an apprenticeship (similar to the
opportunity cost of college) where the father has to pay for the apprenticeship (college tuition)
and loses the child’s labor for several years (lost wages). Cantillon includes the cost of clothing
(which would not apply in the case of college) because children who work on the farm help make
their own clothing, but children in apprenticeships do not (See Part 1, Chapter 9, paragraph 3).
opportunity cost of college) where the father has to pay for the apprenticeship (college tuition)
and loses the child’s labor for several years (lost wages). Cantillon includes the cost of clothing
(which would not apply in the case of college) because children who work on the farm help make
their own clothing, but children in apprenticeships do not (See Part 1, Chapter 9, paragraph 3).
An
Essay on
Economic
Theory
An English translation of Richard Cantillon’s
Essai sur la Nature du Commerce en Général
Translated by Chantal Saucier
Edited by Mark Thornton
Essay on
Economic
Theory
An English translation of Richard Cantillon’s
Essai sur la Nature du Commerce en Général
Translated by Chantal Saucier
Edited by Mark Thornton
© 2010 by the Ludwig von Mises Institute and published under the
Creative Commons Attribution License 3.0.
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
Ludwig von Mises Institute
518 West Magnolia Avenue
Auburn, Alabama 36832
mises.org
ISBN: 978-1-61016-001-8
Creative Commons Attribution License 3.0.
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
Ludwig von Mises Institute
518 West Magnolia Avenue
Auburn, Alabama 36832
mises.org
ISBN: 978-1-61016-001-8
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