Eugen von Böhm-Bawerk discusses the history and principles of interest, offering piercing critiques of failed theories and implementations from past eras. The author's investigations range as far back as antiquity and the Middle Ages; how civilizations of old dealt - or failed to deal - with interest in concept and practice. Interest is earned on existing capital, without the owner of said capital engaging in work or activity, an example being money invested in government bonds. Why this income should exist is the initial question posed, and an answer is sought through investigating several facets of the economy. Böhm-Bawerk's thesis is lengthy and meticulous, ranging across theories of production, the uses with which capital can be employed, the relevance of labor and ideas put across by scholars. He investigates the relationship of interest to debt, exploring whether interest itself is a rent on capital, and what this means in the short and long term. The author is keen to address and debunk ideas, such as the Marxist notion that the interest earned with capital is a manifestation of worker exploitation. Published in the 1880s, Böhm-Bawerk's work was among the first to tackle the subject of interest while recognizing the significance of interest rates in the modern economy. His ideas would go on to inspire future works in the Austrian School of economics, influencing later thinkers such as Friedrich Hayek who elaborated upon related economic topics.

Originally presented as the author's thesis (doctoral)--Universität Frankfurt am Main, 1993. Includes bibliographical references (p. 85-95).

Interest has always been a part of humans' daily economic life, and the concept of interest has attracted intense attention from economists, philosophers, religious scholars and lawmakers. This book analyses the issue of prohibition of interest through the lens of conventional economics and then makes a comparison with the position of Islamic economists. It evaluates the theory of interest presented by Böhm-Bawerk, which is the most respected and applicable theory at present. It provides an in-depth analysis of the current literature, and it is the first book to scrutinize the interpretation of Islamic economists on the concepts of time preference and interest rate control. This book will be of interest to academics and students of economics and Islamic economics.

F. A. Hayek’s long-overlooked volume, was his most detailed work in economic theory. Originally published in 1941 when fashionable economic thought had shifted to John Maynard Keynes, Hayek’s manifesto of capital theory is now available again for today’s students and economists to discover. With a new introduction by Hayek expert Lawrence H. White, who firmly situates the book not only in historical and theoretical context but within Hayek’s own life and his struggle to complete the manuscript, this edition commemorates the celebrated scholar’s last major work in economics. Offering a detailed account of the equilibrium relationships between inputs and outputs in an economy, Hayek’s stated objective was to make capital theory "useful for the analysis of the monetary phenomena of the real world.” His ambitious goal was nothing less than to develop a capital theory that could be fully integrated into the business cycle theory.

The pure time preference theory of Ludwig von Mises and Murray N. Rothbard is a cornerstone of the Austrian theory of interest. In the past, several attempts were made to demonstrate that this theory might be inconsistent. In this paper, the original Böhm-Bawerk theory is illustrated in a simple neoclassical model, and it is shown that there might be a fundamental flaw in the pure time preference theory. It is suggested that the notions of want and good must be explicitly separated, and it is concluded that the time preference as well as the subjective exchange ratio between present goods and future goods may take on any value.

Von Boehm-Bawerk is one of the leading economists of the so-called Austrian school. With Karl Menger and others, he has contributed to the development of a theory of value which has received wide acceptance, and has been the cause of still wider discussion, in the economic world. This theory, as elaborated by Boehm von Bawerk, is based largely upon psychological principles. Its chief feature consists in a searching analysis of ‘subjective value.’ In his “Capital and Interest”, the author makes a brilliant and original study of these two subjects. “The Positive Theory of Capital” is the successor to the work mentioned above.