CHAPTER V. 
The Theory of Profit (Continued) 
I. TWO CAUSES FOR AN OVERESTIMATION OF PRESENT GOODS; 
(¢) THE DIFFERENCE IN THE RELATION BETWEEN NEEDS AND THE 
MEANS FOR THEIR FULFILMENT AT VARIOUS TIMES; (b) THE SYSTE- 
MATIC UNDERESTIMATION OF FUTURE GOODS. 
2. THIRD CAUSE FOR THE OVERESTIMATION OF PRESENT GOODS; 
THEIR TECHNICAL SUPERIORITY. 
3. THE SUBSISTENCE FUND; THE DEMAND FOR PRESENT GOODS AND 
THE SUPPLY; THE ORIGIN OF PROFIT. 
1. Two Causes for the Overestimation of Present Goods. 
In the preceding section we found that the realisation of 
profit is made when the capitalist sells goods; potentially, 
however, the profit arises when labour is purchased. As a 
rule, the subjective evaluations of present goods exceed those 
of future goods. But since the subjective evaluations deter- 
mine the objective exchange value of the price, present goods: 
as a rule surpass future goods of the same type not only in 
their subjective value, but also in price.**® The difference be-: 
tween the prices paid by the capitalist when purchasing future 
goods, particularly labour,** and those obtained in the sale 
of the commodity resulting from the production process (the 
“maturing of future goods into present goods”), constitutes 
capital’s profit. We must therefore trace the formation of this 
profit and begin with an analysis of the subjective evaluations 
from which the objective value—in each concrete case, the 
price—takes its origin. 
Bohm-Bawerk points out three causes for a higher evalua- 
tion of present goods as compared with future goods: (1) the 
difference in the relation between requirements and the means 
for their fulfilment at various times; (2) the systematic under- 
estimation of future goods; (3) the technical superiority of 
present goods. Let us consider each of B&hm-Bawerk’s 
arguments in order. As to the first “cause”: “The first chief 
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