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:: Part I. Capital

Collection:: Economics Books

54 NATURE OF CAPITAL AND INCOME [Cuar. IV many of them only served to put more combatants in the field and furnish more matter to the dispute.”* Many authors express dissatisfaction with their own treatment of capital, and even recast it in successive editions.” Adam Smith’s® concept of capital is wealth which yields “revenue.” He would therefore exclude a dwelling occupied by the owner. Hermann, on the other hand, includes dwellings, on the ground that they are durable goods. But a fruiterer’s stock in trade, which is capital according to Smith, because used for profit, according to Hermann does not seem to be capital, because it is perish- able. Kbnies ® calls capital any wealth, whether durable or not, so long as it is reserved for future use. Walras® attempts to settle the question of durability or futurity by counting the uses. Any wealth which serves more than one use is capital. A can of preserved fruit is therefore capital to Knies if stored away for the future, but is not capital to Walras because it will perish by a single use. To Kleinwiichter,” capital consists only of “tools” of pro- luction, such as railways. He excludes food, for instance, as passive. Jevons,® on the contrary, makes food the most typical capital of all, and excludes railways, except as rep- resenting the food and sustenance of the laborers who built them. While most authors make the distinction between capital and non-capital depend on the kind of wealth, objectively considered, Mill ®* makes it depend on the intention in the mind of the capitalist as to how he shall use his wealth, ! Bohm-Bawerk, Positive Theory of Capital, English translation, London and New York, 1891, p. 23. ? B.g. Roscher, Marshall, Schiffle. 3 Wealth of Nations, Book II, Chap. I. 4 Staaiswirtschaftliche Untersuchungen, Munich, 1832, p. 59. $ Das Geld, 2d ed., Berlin, 1885, pp. 69-70. ® Eléments d’ Economie Politique Pure, 4th ed., Lausanne, p. 177. 7 Grundlagen des Socialismus, 1885, p. 184. 8 Theory of Political Economy, 3d ed., 1888, Chap. VII, pp. 222, 242. ¥ Principles of Political Economy, Book I, Chap, IV, § 1.

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