Toputitinotherwords,moneycirculatesindifferentcountriesonlybecauseitcirculatesascoinineachcountry。Moneyissimplyspecie,andtheamountofgoldpresentinacountrymustenterthesphereofcirculation;
asatokenrepresentingitselfitcanthusriseaboveorfallbelowitsvalue。Bythecircuitousrouteoftheseinternationalintricacieswehavemanagedtoreturntothesimplethesiswhichformsthepointofdeparture。
AfewexampleswillshowhowarbitrarilyactualphenomenaarearrangedbyRicardotosuithisabstracttheory。Heasserts,forinstance,thatinperiodsofcropfailure,whichoccurredfrequentlyinEnglandbetween1800and1820,goldisexported,notbecausecornisneededandgoldconstitutesmoney,i。e。,itisalwaysanefficaciousmeansofpurchaseandmeansofpaymentontheworldmarket,butbecausethevalueofgoldhasfalleninrelationtoothercommoditiesandhencethecurrencyofthecountrysufferingfromcropfailureisdepreciatedinrelationtotheothernationalcurrencies。
Thatistosay,becausethebadharvestreducesthevolumeofcommoditiesincirculation,theexistingquantityofmoneyincirculationexceedsitsnormallevelandallcommodity—pricesconsequentlyrise。[18]Asopposedtothisparadoxicalexplanation,statisticsshowthatinthecaseofcropfailuresinEnglandfrom1793uptothepresent,theexistingamountofmeansofcirculationwasnotexcessivebutonthecontraryitwasinsufficient,andthereforemoremoneythanpreviouslycirculatedandwasboundtocirculate。[19]
AtthetimeofNapoleon\'sContinentalSystemandtheEnglishBlockadeDecrees,RicardolikewiseassertedthattheBritishexportedgoldinsteadofcommoditiestotheContinent,becausetheirmoneywasdepreciatedinrelationtothatofcontinentalcountries,thepricesoftheircommoditieswerethereforehigherandtheexportofgoldratherthancommoditieswasthusamoreprofitablecommercialtransaction。AccordingtohimcommoditiesweredearandmoneycheapontheEnglishmarket,whereasontheContinentcommoditieswerecheapandmoneydear。