Interest rate and the theological idea of time: some reflections

Abstract

This work, as the title reveals, purports to review the idea of interest rate as it is based on the concept of time. But, since there is more than one concept of time, the question that the article tries to ascertain is what idea of time serves best the concept of interest rate. The article proposes that the idea of time that serves economics better is aligned with the protestant and biblical reformation idea of time.

Finally, we will end with what Eugene von Böhm-Bawerk considered to have been the most important contribution to the idea of interest by the reformers. The article does not propose to make a new contribution in the area of eco­nomics, but it is a non-trivial matter to determine which idea of time made the notion of interest possible, and to that we now turn our attention.