This is about subsection (3) duty and debt and right and credit pages 410-413. Commons, who gives a lot of credit to him, next tracks a second confusion by Henry Dunning Macleod in his book “Economics for Beginners” from 1879 which caused him to be written out of the history of economic thought. His conception of transactions and future time. Macleod argued that under common law a right to receive money from a debtor comes into existence now for a creditor but the debtor's duty to pay will only come into effect later when the due date arrives. This is a fallacy as both come into existence at the same time. Why is this important? It is important because a creditor can sell that duty to pay to someone else so it must be in existence now. Common wants to correct this problem by stating that in a transaction two duties are created and introducing the notion of economic status.The duties are the “duty of performance” and the duty of payment” The buyer/creditor must perform...
This blog has been setup to explore the ideas and philosophy of the American institutional economist John R. Commons.