----------------- HES POSTING ----------------- Dan and Michael, Turgot, drawing on physiocratic inspiration, argued that the rate of interest was at least partly determined by the net productivity of the land, if not of forests in particular. According to a long footnote on p. 332 of Schumpeter's History of Economic Analysis, Bohm- Bawerk criticized Turgot for his so-called "fructification theory," devised to counter the "sterility of money" argument of Aristotle. Cassel also contributed to this discussion. Schumpeter sees hints of this argument in Hutcheson and Petty. But Turgot is seen as proposing the relation as an equilibrium condition rather than as a causal relationship from land to the rate of interest, the exchange ratio between land and "richesses mobilieres." Barkley Rosser ------------ FOOTER TO HES POSTING ------------ For information, send the message "info HES" to [log in to unmask]