Rural Wealth and Welfare: Economic Principles Illustrated and Applied in Farm LifeFairchild, Geo. T. (George Thompson)
Science
Rural Wealth and Welfare: Economic Principles Illustrated and Applied in Farm Life
Fairchild, Geo. T. (George Thompson)
Agriculture -- Economic aspects; Economics
Similar variations in rates of interest are found between different
classes of borrowers, due to the variation of risk. Thus promises to pay
on demand, with personal security of two good paymasters, will usually be
accepted at very low rates of interest, since the owner of wealth so
loaned feels sure of having the wealth when he wants it. Government loans
in times of peace and prosperity being essentially without risk, approach
very near the same low rate of interest, since the owner of these
securities believes himself at any time able to command the use of his
wealth for any purpose by a transfer of these securities. If for any
reason, official or legislative, public confidence is disturbed, rates of
interest on such securities rise proportionally through the sale at a
discount. Even a law prohibiting such sale would have exactly the contrary
effect to that intended, because of creating additional distrust. Loans
upon time, if secured by productive landed estate not subject to unusual
risks, can usually be made at moderate rates, and form a fair basis for
judging the normal interest in any region. Loans secured by chattel
mortgage bring higher rates, because the chattels involved are a less
certain means of payment than landed estate. Loans secured upon
unproductive lands, whether in prospective farms or city lots, are made at
high rates, not only because these lands fail to furnish in themselves the
means of interest payment, but because they represent the speculative
energy of their owners with unmeasured risk. All these variations and
fluctuations are found in every community, and grow out of the natural
wants of borrowers and the natural feelings of lenders. Custom may have
something to do with rates in special cases, as it has to do with wages
and retail prices, but in the range of frequent dealing between borrowers
and lenders rates follow the higgling of the market as truly as prices of
commodities.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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