These conclusions enable us to give a general answer
to the question which was raised at the end of Chap-
ter V: What are the ultimate real costs to which the
money cost of production correspond? The attempt
has often been made to relate money costs to such
things as the effort of working and the sacrifice of wait-
ing. The existence of such costs is beyond dispute.
Much saving does mean a sacrifice of immediate enjoy-
ment to the man who saves. Most labor is irksome and
disagreeable in itself, and involves strain and wear and
tear; while all labor means a deprivation of the utility
of leisure. Workpeople, moreover, do not grow on
gooseberry bushes, but must be fed and clothed from
the cradle; and their rearing and maintenance repre-
sents a real cost which someone must incur.

But the existence (or the importance) of such costs
is one thing, their relation to money costs is another.
In Chapter VIII we saw how difficult it was to establish
any clear relation between the rate of interest and the
sacrifice of saving. The costs of labor present similar
difficulties. The relative irksomeness of two occupa-
tions may affect the relative wages which will rule in the
two cases; so, certainly, will the differences in the cost
of education and training which they require. But
these are matters which concern the apportionment
of labor between different employments. There is
no good reason to suppose that the general wage-level
would be reduced, merely because work as a whole
became less irksome, or involved a smaller physical or
mental strain. The supply of people is not determined
by the same kind of influences as is the supply of a
commodity. Parents do not produce children for the

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