Recent Literature on Interest

Recent Literature on Interest is a supplement to Eugen von Böhm-Bawerk's two great prior books, Capital and Interest and The Positive Theory of Capital. This methodical examination of alternatives to the Austrian theory he previously presented is an excellent illustration of the economist's stunning patience and capacity for thorough exposition. Historian of thought William A. Scott provides a laudatory introduction.

Among the alternative theories discussed by Böhm-Bawerk are the agio theory, use theories, the abstinence theory, the labor theory, the productivity theory, the exploitation theory, and the eclectics. In each case, he shows the fallacies and missteps of all alternatives to the time-preference theory, leaving no doubt as to the origin and nature of interest.

It is incredible that each of these theories continues to be "discovered" by present-day economists, who, being unaware of the history of thought, are under the impression that they are advancing science when in fact they are only digging up old fallacies.

Recent Literature on Interest constitutes what has been until now a lost book in the history of the Austrian tradition. It is indispensible for understanding both the theory and the mind of the economist who was Mises's teacher and the master of the theory of interest.