factors of land area in space, and time in eternity, are very important life-belts in infinity for the economist.
Professor Irving Fisher constantly employs the factor of time, as, for example, when he speaks of interest “being the link which binds man to the future.” What other link is there between the present and future but time itself, and what can interest be but a measure of the importance of the interval in hours? Again, “Time…is required. Nature is slow in yielding up her treasures. This slowness of nature, in view of man's impatience to exploit her, will give rise to a rate of interest.” And finally, “In fact, if we were asked to state in a word why there is interest, we should reply, because nature is slow and keeps men waiting.”[1]
Böhm-Bawerk actually got time into his laboratory, but he appears to use it chiefly as a factor to measure short and long cycles of production. His statements that there is a loss of time involved in the employment of capital are repeated and specific, such as, “the disadvantage connected with the capitalist method of production is its sacrifice of time” and “…the loss of time which is bound up with the capitalist process.”[2]
Since he also emphasizes immediately the accelerated production which results from the employment of capital, the words “loss” and “sacrifice” are altogether too weighted with prejudice. If he had said that the greater cycles involved in capitalist production called for the aid of extra-effort, or extra-effort stored for use, which is capital, he would have escaped the appearance of claiming sympathy for capital, which needs
- ↑ “The Rate of Interest,” Irving Fisher. Pages 336, 185, 186. Macmillan, New York.
This touch of anthropomorphism, in as modern and sophisticated an economist as Fisher, is quite delightful. We have, in economics, been so long fed on mysticism that we still cling to our dwindling deities, no matter how slow. It is really unfair to blame poor Nature for a high rate of interest. Fisher repeats a cry that has echoed down the ages since Eve looked after Cain and Abel and Adam: “Do hurry, Mother!” Scientifically, we have a rate of interest for the same reason that we have continuous electric lights, because freedom, in a region of order, has a current value; not because Mother Nature is slow and has to be bribed with pin money.
- ↑ “Positive Theory of Capital,” Böhm-Bawerk. 1891, pages 83–84. Translated by Wm. Smart. Macmillan, London and New York.
