Economics is Fun, Part 5: Time

[Chris]

Time, savings, investment. See also Time Preference.

[Conley]

Thanks Chris, I'm looking forward to watching it.

[Conley]

Another good one. So, as he says interest is simply payment for delayed gratification. I wonder why historically some religions have been opposed (is it all rates, or only usury?) as he mentions. As an example of another religious "law", certainly avoidance of pork back in the day made sense for health reasons.

[Mister D]

I'm not sure why Muslims avoid pork but I think the primary objective of most Jewish ritual law was to separate God's people from other populations. The coastal peoples of the Levant, such as the Philistines, ate quite a bit of pork. Interestingly, there is no condemnation of usury (by which we mean simply the charging of interest) in the NT. The OT condemns charging interest on loans to the poor and to other Hebrews.

[Mister D]

Pork was consumed widely in the ancient world. I don't buy the health theory.

[Mister D]

Sorry, back to economics!

[Conley]

I'm not sure why Muslims avoid pork but I think the primary objective of most Jewish ritual law was to separate God's people from other populations. The coastal peoples of the Levant, such as the Philistines, ate quite a bit of pork. Interestingly, there is no condemnation of usury (by which we mean simply the charging of interest) in the NT. The OT condemns charging interest on loans to the poor and to other Hebrews.

Very interesting. Serves me right for believing popular mythology. If one is being charitable then certainly the poor shouldn't be charged interest, but for those who can afford it I don't see it as being a sin. It does make me sad when I think of those people going to paycheck advance type places and getting completely hosed. Walmart too, they had a commercial over Christmas which made it seem like their layaway program was a magnanimous offering.

[Mister D]

Very interesting. Serves me right for believing popular mythology. If one is being charitable then certainly the poor shouldn't be charged interest, but for those who can afford it I don't see it as being a sin. It does make me sad when I think of those people going to paycheck advance type places and getting completely hosed. Walmart too, they had a commercial over Christmas which made it seem like their layaway program was a magnanimous offering.

Don't be too hard on yourself! Virtually every Christian denomination banned the charging of interest on loans at one time or another. It just doesn't have as much biblical support as you might expect.

Yeah, the paycheck advance rates are horrific.