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INTEREST (RATE): ОТКУДА “РАСТУТ НОГИ”?
The work is an expanded version of the report at the conference "Economics, Society and Culture: the legacy of Adam Smith and Modernity". The subject of the work is interest (rate) ("loan interest"), to which Adam Smith paid a lot of attention. The purpose of the work is to substantiate the unrealistic assumption that the origin of interest (rate) is rooted in the behavior of individuals, and to propose an alternative version. The objectives of the work: (1) to consider the specifics of the space of interests of individuals on a specific example; (2) to argue the incompatibility of interest rate (loan interest) with the hyperbolic nature of intertemporal preferences at the level of individuals; (3) to put forward and substantiate the hypothesis of the connection of the interest rate with the long-term interest in the self-preservation of communities. The introduction substantiates the connection of the purpose of the work with the scientific heritage of Adam Smith. In the first section, the specifics of the space of interests of individuals are considered at the time of the introduction of seat belts. The second section compares the qualitative differences between exponential and hyperbolic discounting. The third section substantiates the possibility of a connection between the specifics of the interaction of primitive nomadic communities and the emergence of the phenomenon of interest rate. Main conclusions: (1) there are partially competing short-term interest in saving time and long-term interest in continuing life in the space of interests of individuals; (2) the incompatibility of interest rate with the hyperbolic nature of intertemporal preferences at the individual level is justified by qualitative differences in hyperbolic and exponential reduction of values of future time to the present, based on the use of interest rate (loan percent); (3) the basis of the hypothesis of the connection of interest rate with the long-term interest in the self-preservation of primitive communities is the specificity of the totemic form of social self-identification. The results obtained can be used in economics textbooks.