Simile of civilization
The author compares civilization and life to show readers the progress of development and transformation of institutions. The author writes, “Civilizations, like life itself, spring from the interaction of a great number of independent factors, which are not, as a rule, reducible to circumscribed institutions.”
The metaphor of the market system
The author, to illustrate the interaction between man and nature to enhance production, uses the metaphor of the market system. The author says, “Production is the interaction of man and nature; if this process is to be organized through a self-regulating mechanism of barter and exchange, then man and nature must be brought into its orbit; they must be subject to supply and demand, that is, be dealt with as commodities, as goods produced for sale."
The metaphor of the gold standard
To show the danger of deflation to the monetary system, the author uses the gold standard metaphorically. The author writes, “Anybody could see that the gold standard, for instance, meant the danger of deadly deflation and, maybe, of fatal monetary stringency in a panic."