Such an expectation requires, not only that the costs of the commodity in question are expected to be relatively constant in terms of the wage unit for a greater or smaller scale of output both in the short and in the long period, but also that any surplus over the current demand at cost price can be taken into stock without cost, ie that its liquidity premium exceeds its carrying costs (for, otherwise, since there is no hope of profit from a higher price, the carrying of a stock must necessarily involve a loss).