价格(即商品的货币交换价值)通过资本家所称的"价格机制",在产品和服务的生产、消费与分配过程中发挥着重要作用。这是资本主义的另一项基本原则。亚当·斯密首次提到价格机制,并写下了"价格机制这只看不见的手"这一说法。他描述了在竞争性市场中,这只看不见或隐藏的市场之手如何通过对自身利益的追求运作,从而以符合社会最大利益的方式分配资源。这仍是所有自由市场经济学家的核心观点,即那些相信自由市场经济的优点、主张政府最少干预的人。这正是资本主义政治经济学的实质。

The price (the monetary exchange value of a product) plays an important role in the process of production, consumption, and distribution of products and services through what capitalists call “the price mechanism.” This is another fundamental principle of capitalism. Adam Smith was the first to refer to the price mechanism when he wrote of the “invisible hand of the price mechanism”34. He described how the invisible or hidden hand of the market operates in a competitive market through the pursuit of self-interest to allocate resources in society’s best interest. This remains the central view of all free-market economists, i.e., those who believe in the virtues of a free-market economy with minimal government intervention. This is the essence of the political economics of capitalism.

价格机制决定哪些生产者能够进入生产竞争，哪些将被排除在外。同样地，它也决定哪些消费者能够满足其需求，哪些消费者则无法做到。商品的生产成本是控制其市场供应的首要因素。商品的效用则是控制该产品市场需求的首要因素。这两个数值都通过价格来衡量。因此，供求概念成为资本主义研究的基石。供给指的是市场的供给，需求指的是市场的需求。供给与需求都与“价格”紧密相连；因此，价格机制是资本主义经济的根本。需求的变化与价格的变化成反比。价格上涨，需求下降；价格下跌，需求上升。这与供给相反，供给的变化与价格成正比。供给水平随价格上涨而增加，随价格下跌而减少。在这两种情况下，价格对供给和需求的影响都最大；因此，它对生产和消费的影响也最大。

The price mechanism decides which of the producers will enter the production race and which will be excluded. In the same manner, it decides which of the consumers will satisfy their needs and which consumers will not be able to do so. The production cost of a commodity is the principal factor which controls its supply to the market. The benefit of the commodity is the principal factor which controls the market demand for the product. Both values are measured by the price. The supply and demand concept thus becomes a cornerstone in the study of capitalism. Supply refers to the supply of the market, and demand refers to the demand of the market. Both supply and demand are tightly coupled with “price”; hence, the price mechanism is fundamental to the economy of capitalism. Demand changes inversely proportional to the change in price. If price increases, then demand decreases; if price decreases, then demand increases. This is contrary to supply which changes directly proportional to the price. The level of supply increases as the price increases and it drops as price decreases. In both cases, price has the greatest effect on supply and demand; consequently, it has the greatest effect on production and consumption.

在资本主义之下，价格机制在社会中个人之间分配商品与服务方面同样发挥着重要作用。按照“价格机制”的观点，在社会中分配商品与服务的理想方式，是能够保证最高可能的生产水平，同时也保证对生产努力给予最高水平的报酬的方式。当生产（供给）与消费（需求）之间的这种关系遭到破坏时，体系中便会出现失衡；这可能是资本主义政治经济制度中潜伏的一个缺陷。

The price mechanism under capitalism plays a major role as well in the distribution of commodities and services amongst individuals in a society. According to the “price mechanism,” the ideal method to distribute commodities and services in a society is that which guarantees the highest possible level of production, which also guarantees the highest level of compensation for the efforts of production. When this relationship between production (supply) and consumption (demand) is violated, an imbalance occurs in the system; this could be a dormant fault of the capitalist political economy.

资本主义声称，价格机制能够自动实现经济均衡。它赋予消费者自行决定社会所拥有的资源在各种经济活动之间如何分配的选择权。当消费者需求某些商品而放弃另一些商品时，这一点便得以实现。消费者用收入（他们通过交换自己的货物或劳动而获得的收入）购买所需之物或所喜之物。因此，不喜欢葡萄酒的消费者会戒绝购买，并把收入花在其他东西上。如果不喜欢葡萄酒的消费者人数增加，或者所有消费者都不再喜欢它，那么由于需求下降，葡萄酒的生产就变得无利可图，于是葡萄酒的生产会自然而然地停止。其他商品和服务也适用同样的规律。消费者通过决定买什么、不买什么，决定了生产的水平和种类。

Capitalism claims that the price mechanism produces economic equilibrium automatically. It gives the consumers the choice to decide for themselves the distribution of the resources owned by the society over the various economic activities. This is accomplished when the consumers demand some commodities and turn away from others. The consumers spend their income (which they obtained by means of exchanging their goods or efforts) by buying what they need or what they desire. Thus, the consumer who dislikes wine will abstain from buying it and spends his income on other things. If the number of consumers who dislike wine increases, or if all consumers come to dislike it, then the production of wine becomes unprofitable due to decrease in the demand. Thus, production of wine would stop in a natural way. The same rule applies to other commodities and services. By deciding what to buy and what to leave, the consumers define the level and kind of production.

价格机制是资本主义的主要支柱之一;人们认为它是生产的激励因素、分配的调节者,也是生产者与消费者之间的纽带;从本质上说,它是实现生产与消费之间均衡的手段。

The price mechanism is one of the main pillars of capitalism; it is considered to be the incentive for production, the regulator of distribution, and the link between the producer and the consumer; in essence it is the means for achieving equilibrium between production and consumption.

有一种观点认为，人从事任何生产性努力或作出牺牲，其主要动机是物质回报。资本主义排除了人为道德或精神动机而付出努力的可能性。即便道德动机确实存在，也被归结为一种物质性的补偿（例如税收优惠）。

It is maintained that the principal motive for man to undertake any productive effort or sacrifice is his material reward. Capitalism excludes the possibility that man expends effort for a moral or spiritual motive. The moral motive, if it exists at all, is attributed to a materialist compensation (think of tax incentives).

人们付出努力，只是为了满足其物质需求和欲望。这种满足要么通过消费自己直接生产的商品，要么通过获得一笔货币报酬，再用它来换取他人生产的商品和服务。由于人在满足大部分需求（甚至全部需求）时，都依赖于与他人交换自己的努力，因此需求的满足便集中于为自己的努力获得货币报酬。这笔货币报酬使他能够获得商品和服务，因此人不必完全专注于自己所生产的商品。所以，作为价格的货币报酬，就是人从事生产的动机。这就是“价格”被视为生产激励因素的原因。

Man expends his efforts to satisfy his materialistic needs and wishes only. This satisfaction is either through the consumption of commodities which he produces directly or through receiving a monetary reward that enables him to obtain the commodities and services produced by others. Since man depends in satisfying most of his needs, if not all of them, on exchanging his efforts with others, then the satisfaction of needs is focused on obtaining a monetary reward for his efforts. This monetary reward allows him to obtain commodities and services, and accordingly man does not have to focus entirely on the commodities which he produces. Therefore, the monetary reward, which is the price, is the motive for man to produce. This is how “the price” is considered the incentive for production.

除了作为生产的激励因素外，价格还起着调节分配的作用。通常情况下，人喜欢尽可能充分地满足自身的所有需求，并努力获取能够满足这些需求的商品和服务。如果人能够自由地满足自己的需求，他就不会止步于拥有和消费自己喜欢的任何商品。由于人的能力有限，资源又稀缺，人必须将满足需求的程度限制在某一界限之内。这一界限，就是他能够负担得起、以自己的努力与他人的努力进行交换的界限，也就是他因付出劳动而获得的货币报酬的界限；这便是价格的界限。

Besides being an incentive for production, the price also regulates distribution. In the normal case, man likes to satisfy all of his needs completely and he strives to obtain the commodities and services which satisfy these needs. If man is left free to satisfy his needs, he would not stop short of possessing and consuming whatever commodity he likes. Because of the limitation of man’s capabilities and the scarcity of resources, man has to stop satisfying his needs at a certain limit. This is the limit at which he can afford to exchange his efforts with others efforts, that is, at the limit of the monetary compensation which he receives for expending his effort; this is the limit of the price.

价格对人形成一种约束，它自然地将人的占有与消费限制在与其收入相称的水平之内。价格调节人在相互竞争的各种需求之间的选择：人会先满足他认为必要的需求，而放弃他认为次要的需求。因此，价格迫使个人在某些需求上只能获得部分满足，并以牺牲其他需求为代价。这就是价格调节个人对效用的消费的方式。在资本主义制度下，负债被用来扩大消费者的消费能力，使其在不借贷的情况下无法负担的产品也能消费。自信用制度广泛使用以来，资本主义制度下的负债已发展成为一种占主导地位的现象。

The price provides a constraint which acts naturally to restrict man’s possession and consumption to a level which is proportional to his income. The price regulates man’s choice between competing needs; he proceeds to satisfy what he finds necessary and leaves what he finds of less importance. Thus, the price forces the individual to settle for partial satisfaction of some of his needs at the expense of others. This is how the price regulates the consumption of utilities by individuals. Indebtedness within capitalism has been used to expand the consumers’ abilities to consume more products than they could afford without borrowing money. Indebtedness within capitalism has grown to be a dominant phenomenon after the widespread use of the credit system.

价格还调节着有限效用在需求这些效用的消费者之间的分配。消费者收入之间的差距导致人们的消费水平因收入不同而有所差异。价格较高的商品只会提供给那些负担得起的人;价格较低的商品则会被能够承受较低价格的人消费。因此,价格通过为某些商品和服务定高价、为另一些定低价,从而成为在消费者之间分配效用的调节者。

The price also regulates the distribution of limited utilities amongst the consumers who demand these utilities. The disparity between the incomes of the consumers leads to a variation in the level of consumption by people based on their incomes. More pricy commodities will be available only to those who can afford them; less pricy commodities would be consumed by people who can afford the lower prices. The price, thus, becomes the regulator in distributing utilities amongst consumers by setting a high price for some commodities and services and a low price for others.

价格机制还负责通过在生产者与消费者之间建立联系，实现生产与消费之间的均衡。生产者生产产品以满足消费者的需求；他通过利润获得回报。如果消费者不接受其产品，生产者就会亏损。生产者通过价格来察觉消费者的需求。如果某种商品的价格因需求增加而上涨，产量也随之增加。

The price mechanism is also responsible for achieving equilibrium between production and consumption by establishing a link between the producer and the consumer. The producer makes products to fulfill the desires of the consumers; he is rewarded through profits. The producer would lose if the products are not accepted by the consumers. The producer detects the desires of the consumers through the price. If the price of a commodity increases as a result of increased demand, the production increases as well.

相反,如果由于市场需求下降而导致价格下跌,产量也会随之减少。市场对因需求变化而引起的价格涨跌所作出的反应,使价格机制成为一种工具:它实现了生产与消费之间的均衡,并在生产者与消费者之间建立起联系;这一过程自动发生,无需外部干预。这正是资本主义政治经济学中价格机制的本质,它构成了经济的基石。如果价格机制无法实现均衡、财富分配和经济平衡等预期目标,便会损害资本主义的根基。

Conversely, production decreases if the price drops due to a decrease in the market demand. The response of the market to the price increase and decrease due to variations in the demand makes the price mechanism a tool which achieves equilibrium between production and consumption and a link between the producer and the consumer; this process occurs automatically without the need of external intervention. This is the essence of the price mechanism in the political economy of capitalism. It constitutes a cornerstone of the economy. The failure of the price mechanism to achieve the desired objectives of equilibrium, wealth distribution, and balanced economy is detrimental to the foundation of capitalism.

根据价格机制理论，资本主义经济学家得出结论：在社会成员之间分配财富的理想方法，是那种能够保证最高可能生产水平的方法；产品将通过产品价格自然而然地得到分配。当生产者所付出努力的回报增加时，产量就会增长。这里隐含的假设是：产品的效用仅仅来自人的劳动。然而，这并不总是正确的。效用最初存在于产品之中，是以其最基本、最原始的形态呈现的，是由真主所创造的。人的努力与劳动，是将原材料经过某些加工，转化为消费者可用或所需的形态。说产品的效用完全由人创造，这是不准确的。事实上，有些原材料无需人付出丝毫努力便具有效用。最好也最简单的例子是空气、水、草地、森林以及许多其他事物。因此，把效用仅仅视为人类努力的结果是不准确的；这忽略了原材料以及其他现成可得的资源。那么，断言价格（即对人类劳动的报酬）是控制生产水平的参数，也就不准确了。

Based on the price mechanism theory, the capitalist economists conclude that the ideal method to distribute the wealth among the members of society is that which guarantees the highest possible level of production; the products will naturally be distributed through the price of products. The production increases when the reward for the efforts exerted by the producer increases. The underlying assumption here is that the benefit of products is the result of man’s efforts only. But this is not always true. Benefits initially are found in products in their most basic and raw form as created by God. The effort and labor of man help transfer the raw materials after certain types of processing to a form and shape usable or desirable by the consumer. It is not accurate to say that the benefit of a product is entirely created by man. In fact, there are certain raw materials which carry benefit without the least amount of efforts from man. The best and simplest examples are the air, water, meadows, forests, and many others. So, considering the benefit as a result of human efforts only is inaccurate; it neglects the raw material and other readily available resources. Then, it is not accurate to claim that the price (which is the compensation for man’s efforts) is the parameter which controls the level of production.

同样，生产水平的下降并不仅仅源于劳动回报的减少。生产也可能因自然资源的枯竭、国家财富的减少、战争、自然灾害或其他原因而下降。

Similarly, the decline in the level of production does not result solely from a decrease in the reward for work. Production can decline as a result of the depletion of natural resources, decline in the wealth of the country, wars, natural disasters, or other reasons.

例如，第二次世界大战后英国和法国的生产下降，并非由于劳动报酬的减少，而是由于它们对其富庶殖民地的影响力萎缩所致。它也源于两国卷入战争以及失去战略资源。第二次世界大战期间美国的生产下降，并非由于生产者所获劳动报酬的减少，而是由于其卷入对德国的战争所致。今天伊斯兰世界的生产下降，并非由于劳动报酬的减少，而是整个穆斯林民族陷入的智识衰退所致。近年来美国的生产下降，主要是由于制造业外包给印度和中国等国家所致。

As an example, the decline of production in both Britain and France after the Second World War did not result from a reduction of the work reward; it resulted from the shrinkage in their influence over their rich colonies. It also resulted from their involvement in the war and their loss of strategic resources. Production decline in the United States during the Second World War did not result from a reduction in rewards for work done by producers; it resulted from its involvement in the war against Germany. The decline in production in the Islamic World today did not result from a reduction in the reward to work; it is the result of the intellectual decline into which the whole Muslim nation fell. Production decline in the United States in recent years is mainly due to outsourcing of manufacturing to India and China, and so on.