The persistence of the eight-year generating cycle in England for one hundred and sixty years; the congruence of the eight-year crop cycles in England, France, and the United States; the persistence of the eight-year meteorological cycles, and their congruence in Europe and America; the congruence of the economic and meteorological cycles — these uniformities and agreements suggest that their cause must be sought in a cosmical cycle. The probable cause is the planet Venus in its eight-yearly periodic motion with respect to the Earth and the Sun. I. Economic cycles, 2. — II. Meteorological cycles, 8. — III. The cause of the eight-year generating cycle, 18.

Cycles of approximately eight years in the yield per acre of British crops have probably recurred in a continuous series during the last one hundred and sixty years. In consequence of the law of demand, these crop cycles have generated corresponding cycles in the prices of food and of organic raw materials. In conformity with the law of competitive price, the cycles in the prices of food and of raw materials should have been followed by corresponding cycles in the prices of manufactured commodities. As a matter of fact, the analysis of Sauerbeck's index numbers of general wholesale reveals real cycles of approximately eight years in which the originating, generating crop cycles are reflected throughout the century for which the Sauerbeck index numbers have been computed. The principal results of the investigation appear in the graphs of Figures 5 and 6. I. Data and method, 504. — II. An analysis of a century of prices, 508. — III. Crop cycles as generating cycles, 515.

The major features of economic cycles are traceable to three primary laws: (1) the law of the generating cycle of raw materials, which is due to a non-economic cause; (2) the law of demand for raw materials, in consequence of which the generating cycle of products originates a derived cycle of prices for raw materials; and (3) the law of competitive price, according to which the prices of finished goods in an open market tend to correspond with the cost of production. Correlation of crop yields and crop prices, 218. — Generating cycles of products. 224. — The derived cycle of prices, 226. — Cycles in the products of mines, 228. — Cycles in raw materials, 231. — Concluding observations, 233.