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The contrary of this happens in a year of sudden and

extraordinary scarcity. The funds destined for employing industry

are less than they had been the year before. A considerable

number of people are thrown out of employment, who bid one

against another, in order to get it, which sometimes lowers both

the real and the money price of labour. In 1740, a year of

extraordinary scarcity, many people were willing to work for bare

subsistence. In the succeeding years of plenty, it was more

difficult to get labourers and servants. The scarcity of a dear

year, by diminishing the demand for labour, tends to lower its

price, as the high price of provisions tends to raise it. The

plenty of a cheap year, on the contrary, by increasing the

demand, tends to raise the price of labour, as the cheapness of

provisions tends to lower it.