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NOTE What was Böhm-Bawerk's main criticism of Menger?

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If you look at von Bawerk himself, what does he say about Menger?

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He doesn't say that Menger doesn't believe in a rate of interest.

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He says that Menger believes in a rate of interest, but it's incorrect.

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So, by the way, I recommend von Bawerk highly.

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He's probably the great polemicist in the history of economic thought.

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He sits down with different economists and very patiently, paragraph by paragraph, paid by page,

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demolishes them in a very polite manner.

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They're left as rubble.

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What he does with Menger, he's very respectful of Menger.

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Menger is a great guy. He has a separate, great insight.

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However, unfortunately, he's got an incorrect theory of interest.

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This theory refers to the so-called use theory, that somehow, and explains it in a very, very usual lucid, brilliant, lucid manner,

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that menger somehow believe that when you buy capital goods, when you buy factors of production, you also pay a price for them, as Roger said today.

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But you're also doing something else, you're also paying an extra surplus for the use of the factors of production, for the disposing of the factors of production.

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And Boehm-Bawerk very carefully page after page says, look, there's no difference between the use of something and the thing itself.

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You buy something, you buy the uses of it. That's the whole point. You buy a machine, you buy only uses of the machine.

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There's no extra use payment in addition to the payment of the machine.

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So as I said, Brady, you're beautifully and lucidly and carefully demolishes Menger.

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Obviously, Menger doesn't like to be demolished. There's very few people in the history of social thought who love being demolished.

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There might be one or two here and there, but I don't know of them.

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And I think that's it. I don't think the argument is over equilibration. I think the argument is over use theory.

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And by ball breakfast brings in the time preference theory of interest.
