Addendum to Supply and Demand: What Comes First?

Click here to read the original Cautious Optimism Facebook post with comments

An addendum to the Cautious Optimism Correspondent for Economic Affairs and Other Egghead Stuff's recent post on Say's Law of Markets and supply and demand:

1) "Definition of Demand: the willingness and 𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 of consumers to purchase a given quantity of a good or service at a given point in time or over a period in time. In economics, demand is formally defined as ‘effective’ demand meaning that it is a consumer want or a need 𝐬𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐲 𝐚𝐧 𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐩𝐚𝐲."

-Economics Online

2) "Two things are necessary to constitute a demand. These are – A Wish for the commodity, and An Equivalent to give for it. A demand means, the will to purchase, and the means of purchasing. If either is wanting, the purchase does not take place. An equivalent is the necessary foundation of all demand. 𝐈𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐯𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐚 𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐰𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐨𝐝𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬, 𝐢𝐟 𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦."

-James Mill, Elements of Political Economy (1821)

3) “In order to demand anything, you can’t just stomp your feet in the colloquial sense of the word demand. You have to have something with which to demand. You 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐫𝐮𝐢𝐭𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟 𝐢𝐧 𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧 𝐞𝐱𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞 and so production of course is at the heart of it."

-Economic historian Thomas E. Woods on Say's Law

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Part 1 of "Supply and Demand: Say's Law of Markets" available for reading at:

http://www.cautiouseconomics.com/2022/08/macroeconomics-15.html

Part 2, the more complicated subject of Keynesian economics' alleged refutation of Say's Law, to come later this week.