MICHIGAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. 149 



of courses aud literature along the lines of private finance and semi- 

 technical commercial subjects points this way. 



o. Perhaps not without connection with the preceding i)oint is the 

 growing emphasis of the distinction between the social and the indi- 

 vidual or entrepreneur viewpoints, — a distinction for the lack of which 

 certain older writers fell into confusion in their value theories. It does 

 not seem to the writer that the current talk about the entrepreneur 

 viewpoint, opportunity cost, etc., can serve as the basis for the theory 

 of value in political economy. 



4, Within the domain of pure public economics a reaction against 

 the excessive attention to psychological factors is bound to come, or is at 

 hand. With the lowering of production margins and the increasing 

 realization of certain objective limitations which now seem likely in this 

 country, this reaction will come the quicker. The fundamental character 

 of the opposition between man and his natural environment will not 

 down. 



5. Accordingh- the marginal utility mist is being cleared up. Even 

 the plea that this phrase is a convenient way of putting the forces back 

 of demand and supply together is being questioned. While nowhere 

 finally dealt with, certain writers like McVane. Davenport, Bonar, 

 Carlile, Landry, Dietzel, and Bortkiewicz have sapped the somewhat 

 specious pretensions of the doctrine. We no longer regard it as an ulti- 

 mate touchstone for all value questions, — as a means of expressing 

 changes in a man's valuation of goods in terms of utility considered as 

 a property of the goods. 



G. In the field of capital and interest the writer is struck with the 

 necessity of fighting out the questions which concern the nature of 

 capital. The issue is being joined over the definition of capital as an 

 abstract mobile fund. If this is its true nature then any object in which 

 it may be imbodied may be a capital good. Moreover costs may be 

 neglected. But if the true concept is that of an aggregate of capital 

 good, costs come to the fore, and the peculiar significance of land 

 rent appears. 



7. Finally a minor point in recent tendencies concerns the develop- 

 ment of accountancy and the application of accounting methods to ec- 

 onomic analysis. From this much is to be hoped for in the direction of 

 accuracy and completeness. 



Ann Arbor, Mich., April 1910. 



