circumstance, that Ricardo and his adherents, who held money to be merely a token of value, are called bullionists, is due not only to the name of that committee, but also to the nature of their theory. In his work on political economy, Ricardo repeated and developed further the same views, but nowhere has he investigated the nature of money as such, as he had done in the case of exchange value, profit, rent, etc.
To begin with, Ricardo determines the value of gold and silver, like that of all other commodities, by the quantity of labor-time embodied in them.[1] By means of them, as commodities of a given value, the values of all other commodities are measured.[2] The volume of the circulating medium in a country is determined by the value of the unit of measure of money on the one hand, and by the sum total of the exchange values of commodities, on the other. This quantity is modified by economy in the method of payment.[3] Since the quantity of money,
- ↑ David Ricardo: "On the Principles of Political Economy etc." p. 77. "Their value [of metals] [like that of all other commodities], depends on the total quantity of labour necessary to obtain the metal, and to bring it to market."
- ↑ l. c. p. 77, 180, 181.
- ↑ Ricardo, l. c. p. 421. "The quantity of money that can be employed in a country must depend on its value: if gold alone were employed for the circulation of commodities, a quantity would be required, one fifteenth only of what would be necessary, if silver were made use of for the same purpose." See also Ricardo's: "Proposals for an Economical and Secure Currency," London, 1816, p. 89, where he says: "The amount of notes in circulation depends on the amount required for the
