The nature of capital and income

Bibliographic data

Monograph

Identifikator:: 102659555X

URN:: urn:nbn:de:zbw-retromon-82920

Document type:: Monograph

Author:: Fisher, Irving http://d-nb.info/gnd/118533541

Title:: The nature of capital and income

Place of publication:: New York

Publisher:: The Macmillan Company

Year of publication:: 1923

Scope:: XXI, 427 Seiten

Digitisation:: 2019

Collection:: Economics Books

Usage license:: Get license information via the feedback formular.

Chapter

Document type:: Monograph

Structure type:: Chapter

Title:: Introduction. Fundamental concepts

Collection:: Economics Books

_. RET RR 12 NATURE OF CAPITAL AND INCOME [Cuae. I guess as to what price the article would or should fetch. Appraising or guessing at prices is often very difficult in practice. It is necessarily employed, however, by the gov- ernment in assessing taxes and customs and condemning land ; by insurance companies in settling claims and adjust- ing losses; by merchants in making up inventories and other statements; and by statisticians and others. In fact, some people make a living by simply appraising wealth on which, for one purpose or another, a price of some sort must be set. Evidently, the purpose makes a great difference in the appraisal. Sometimes we need to know the price for which an article could be sold at an immediate forced sale; sometimes, what it might be expected to bring if a reason- able time were allowed ; sometimes, what the owner would probably take; sometimes, what a possible purchaser would probably give. These appraised prices may all be different. A family portrait may be worth an untold amount to the owner, but might bring next to nothing if actually sold. The owner would endeavor to appraise it at a high figure if he wished to insure it against fire; but if he wished to borrow money on it, the appraisement would doubtless be small, for the pawnbroker would consider it almost worthless. : Thus, in practically making an appraisement we encoun- ter many difficulties, owing partly to the unknown char- acter and condition of the parties involved, and partly to the variety of interests to be served by the appraisal. But whatever the difficulties and ambiguities in as- certaining a price or prices for any article, the price or prices do actually exist without ambiguity. The vague- ness comes wholly from failure to specify sufficiently the conditions under which the exchange is to take place. If we specify in sufficient detail the conditions of the contem- plated exchange, its terms will be quite definite ; but whether or not we can guess at those terms correctly is quite another matter.

Access restriction

Copyright

fullscreen: The nature of capital and income

Monograph

Chapter

Table of contents

Download

Monograph

Chapter

This page

Image fragment

Citation links

Citation recommendation