Irving Fisher's books, The Nature of Capital and Income (1906) and The  
Rate of Interest (1907), are built around valuing capital by discounting  
expected future income by the interest rate. Bohm-Bawerk certainly  
thought in this way before Fisher. 
 
Robert Dimand 
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On Wed, 31 May 1995, William M. Wiecek wrote: 
 
> I have a query for economic historians.  Please post any replies to  
> my email address below. 
> Approximately when did the concept of discounting future income  
> streams to arrive at present value become a commonplace among  
> economists?  I am particularly interested in identifying the time,  
> within a decade, when lawyers might begin picking up the concept from  
> economists.  The earliest pertinent reference I have found is in John  
> R. Commons, The Legal Foundations of Capitalism (1924), but I suspect  
> that the idea is older than that, and that a sophisticated lawyer  
> like Louis D. Brandeis could have been thinking in those terms before  
> World War I.  Any comments?  I thank youi in advance for your  
> trouble. 
> William M. Wiecek 
> Syracuse University College of Law 
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> (315) 443-4108 
> FAX: (315) 443-5394 
>