The Principles of Economics, with Applications to Practical ProblemsFetter, Frank A. (Frank Albert)
General
The Principles of Economics, with Applications to Practical Problems
Fetter, Frank A. (Frank Albert)
Economics
2. _The enterpriser gives up the certain income to be got by lending his
own capital, and, becoming a borrower, offers his capital as insurance
to the lender._ Every business has an element of uncertainty in it, and
some one must meet the risk. A man with marked ability as an organizer
of industry is rarely found long without capital of his own. But even a
penniless man who can gain the confidence of investors is able to get
backing and to secure the necessary funds to engage in business. The
lenders in such a case, however, run a greater risk than when the
enterpriser is a man of some means, and they therefore ask a higher rate
of interest than if they were loaning to a wealthy man or to a wealthy
company. They are in part the enterprisers. When, as usually, the
enterpriser invests some of his own capital, it is a guarantee of his
good faith, a sort of insurance reserve to protect the lender from loss.
The first loss falls on the enterpriser, and the chance of loss to the
lender is in large part, though not entirely, eliminated. It is
characteristic of modern loans that the borrower may be rich, not
poor,--often richer than the lender. The mortgage on real estate and the
creditor's claim on a merchant's property usually give security of far
greater value than the loan.
[Sidenote: The enterpriser's insurance of the laborer's production]
3. _The enterpriser gives to other workers a definite amount for
services applied to distant ends._ In discussing the wage system it was
pointed out that most labor at the present time is put upon future
goods. It is not known what they will be worth a month or a year later
when they mature as consumption goods; their present worth can merely be
estimated. If they prove to be worth little, the profits may be nothing
or less than nothing. The enterpriser, however, buys the services for
ready money, embodies them in goods, and assumes the risk; the goods
may sell for more or less than the wages. It is sometimes said with a
certain irony that if the enterpriser assumes the risk he is very
careful to pay so little for labor that he does not lose. In this naive
view the enterpriser is so independent of the market that he can pay
much or little as he pleases. In fact in many cases he gains little, and
in many he loses and loses largely.
[Sidenote: The risk of the enterpriser's services]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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