An Analysis on the Relationship between Hoarding, Investment and Economic Growth

Quarterly Journal of Austrian Economics 19, no. 3 (Fall 2016): 248–266

ABSTRACT: The relationship between investment, hoarding and economic growth is a rather complex one. Although both investment and monetary hoarding can be considered different instances of capital accumulation in the long run, their short term effects on economic growth can diverge. These transitory variations are based precisely on the fact that money has a driving force of its own, i.e. it is not neutral. I argue that hoarding necessarily implies a longer period of time between the moment when resources are saved and the moment when new consumer goods reach the market (economic growth), as opposed to the case in which the same amount of resources would be invested through the banking system.

KEYWORDS: capital theory, gross market rate of interest, structure of production, investment, economic growth, hoarding

JEL CLASSIFICATION: B13, E14, E22, E31, E41, E43, O40