Pure Time-Preference Theory: The Idea That the Phenomenon of Interest Is in No Way Dependent upon Physical Productivity

Almost invariably, contemporary economists have reacted to renewed discussions of the pure time-preference theory with utter disbelief and plain bewilderment. These critics have found the theory simply incredible; the idea that the phenomenon of interest is in no way dependent upon physical productivity is one that the critics find patently absurd; that serious thinkers should accept this absurdity, they find quite incomprehensible. The present paper does not seek to argue any superiority of PTPT [pure time-preference theory] over its competitors in the field of interest theories. Rather we seek to dispel the bewilderment that moderns display in regard to it. This task of clarification will turn out to involve certain “philosophical,” extra-economic issues that are of significance for economists in their own right, in several respects.

--Israel M. Kirzner, "The Pure Time-Preference Theory of Interest: An Attempt at Clarification," in The Pure Time-Preference Theory of Interest, ed. Jeffrey M. Herbener (Auburn, AL: Ludwig von Mises Institute, 2011), 100.