Davenant is perhaps best know to most readers by his employment of the estimate made by Gregory King of the effect of deficiency in supply on augmentation of price. The passage in which this is mentioned is as follows:
"It is observed that but one-tenth the defect in the harvest may raise the price three-tenths, and when we have but half our crop of wheat, which now and then happens, the remainder is spun out by thrift and good management, and eked out by the use of other grain; but this will not do for above one year, and would be a small help in the succession of two or three unseasonable very destructive, in which many of the poorest sort perish, either for want of sufficient food or by unwholesome diet.
"We take it that a defect in the harvest may raise the price of corn in the following proportions: --