Mises and Rothbard on Credit Contraction during a Downturn

The Influence and Significance of Human Action After 75 Years, Audiobook

Tags: History of the Austrian School of Economics

05/11/2026 Patrick Newman

Individuals’ time preferences determine the societal rate of interest, which Mises calls the “originary interest” rate. The rate of interest found in the loanable funds market is commonly believed to be the fundamental interest rate. But the loanable funds market only “adjusts the rate of interest on loans to the rate of originary interest.” Lower time preferences are expressed through a decrease in consumption spending, an increase in savings and investment, and a decline in the originary interest rate, while higher time preferences cause the opposite.

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