to have really cost him.

Though the price, therefore, which leaves him this profit, is not always the
lowest at which a dealer may sometimes sell his goods, it is the lowest at
which he is likely to sell them for any considerable time; at least where
there is perfect liberty, or where he may change his trade as often as he
pleases.

The actual price at which any commodity is commonly sold, is called its
market price. It may either be above, or below, or exactly the same with its
natural price.

The market price of every particular commodity is regulated by the
proportion between the quantity which is actually brought to market, and the
demand of those who are willing to pay the natural price of the commodity,
or the whole value of the rent, labour, and profit, which must be paid in
order to bring it thither. Such people may be called the effectual
demanders, and their demand the effectual demand; since it maybe sufficient
to effectuate the bringing of the commodity to market. It is different from
the absolute demand. A very poor man may be said, in some sense, to have a
demand for a coach and six; he might like to have it; but his demand is not
an effectual demand, as the commodity can never be brought to market in
order to satisfy it.

When the quantity of any commodity which is brought to market falls short of
the effectual demand, all those who are willing to pay the whole value of
the rent, wages, and profit, which must be paid in order to bring it
thither, cannot be supplied with the quantity which they want. Rather than
want it altogether, some of them will be willing to give more. A competition
will immediately begin among them, and the market price will rise more or