Interest: What Is It And Why It Should Interest Us

Weekly Meeting – Interest: What Is It And Why It Should Interest Us

More capital means more production.

Greater production takes more time.

Bringing time into the equation means talking about interest—but where do interest payments come from?

From whence comes the “surplus value” that makes interest payments possible.

Where, in short, does interest come from?

From capital? From productivity?

As a reward from abstinence? As a theft by the capitalist class from workers? As an immoral imposition on borrowers by lenders?

How is interest earned—or is it?

Where does “the natural rate of interest” come from—or is there one?
And what role did interest play in building the world we live in today?

Starting with Aristotle and the monks of the Middle Ages, we look at how the subject of interest has been used and abused by thinkers throughout history—and why a correct understanding of interest has such a powerful bearing on both why economies grow, and how they crash.

Date: Monday, August 13
Time: 6pm
Location: Room 215, Level 2, Business School Building

See you there.