Capital, Interest, and Waiting: Controversies, Puzzles, and New Additions to Capital Theory - Hardcover

by Leland B. Yeager (Author), Steve H. Hanke (Author)

Prominent economists including Nassau Senior, Eugene von Bӧhm-Bawerk, Gustav Cassel, Irving Fisher, Walter Eucken, and Robert Dorfman have recognized or toyed with the idea of waiting as a factor of production, but this concept has not yet been explored in its entirety until now. In this book, Leland B. Yeager and Steve H. Hanke dive into the economic theory behind waiting and contextualize its relevance to modern-day monetary policy.

Capital, Interest, and Waiting challenges economists to reconsider capital theory. The arguments presented within the book embrace extant literature on capital theory, including the numerous controversies, puzzles, and debates crowding the subject. These debates range from the Cambridge controversies triggered by Joan Robinson's work to the famous "reswitching" problem to a broader array of important problems in capital theory that were laid out by Walter Eucken, among others.

Leland B. Yeager and Steve H. Hanke present, discuss, and resolve these many complexities of capital theory. Chapters break new ground again and again by demonstrating how waiting is a factor of production and interest is its price. Those who read this book will challenge long-held beliefs relevant to monetary economics and reconsider their approach to capital theory.

Back Jacket

Prominent economists have recognized or toyed with the idea of waiting as a factor of production, but the subject has remained largely undeveloped until now. In this book, Leland B. Yeager and Steve H. Hanke build upon the contributions from a gallery of distinguished economists, diving into the economic theory behind waiting and explaining its relevance for modern-day monetary policy, among other things. With this new perspective, Yeager and Hanke challenge economists to reconsider capital theory as previously understood.

Capital, Interest, and Waiting is an indispensable resource for economists grappling with or questioning the theoretical and applied relationships between time, money, and the economy. It challenges readers to reconsider their approach to capital theory. The arguments presented throughout the book rest on the vast literature of capital theory that has been accompanied by numerous controversies, puzzles, and debates for well over a century. With energy, Yeager and Hanke resolve these many puzzles and paradoxes one after the other, breaking new ground by demonstrating that waiting is a factor of production and interest is its price.

Leland B. Yeager (1924-2018) was Ludwig von Mises Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Economics at Auburn University and Paul Goodloe McIntire Professor of Economics Emeritus at the University of Virginia.

Steve H. Hanke is Professor of Applied Economics and Founder and Co-Director of the Institute for Applied Economics, Global Health, and the Study of Business Enterprise at The Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. Hanke was a member of the faculties at the Colorado School of Mines and the University of California, Berkeley.