Where a country exports to another country more goods than it imports from that country it is said to have a favorable balance of trade. Where these conditions are reversed it is said to have an unfavorable balance of trade. The origin of these terms goes back to an earlier day when it was considered in the highest degree desirable to have a country's supply of money increased and very undesirable to have it diminished because specie, i.e. gold and silver, would be gained for the country by having an excess of exports and lost for it by having an excess of imports. In recent times, however, the idea of a favorable balance of trade has lost its importance. It is felt that in the long run the payments to be made to foreign countries will balance the payments received from foreign countries and unless a country contains gold mines and is therefore in the business of producing gold it will not export more gold than it imports.