What about this? Dunbar, Nicholas. 2000. Inventing Money: The Story of Long-Term Capital Management and the Legends Behind It (NY: Wiley). 46: "The most important possession people had was livestock, but animals have a unique property they breed. If you borrow a herd of cattle for a year, you probably will end up with more than you started with. The number of calves represents the time value of cows." 46: "In the first cities of the ancient Middle East, where money was invented, interest was devised according to the same principle. Indeed, the Sumerian lord for interest was the same as the word for calves. This is also the case in Greek. Over time, money breeds money, and this principle was established as early as 5000 years ago. By the time of Hammurabi, 2000 years later, Babylonian children were even being set problems on calculating interest in school!"
-- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University Chico, CA 95929 Tel. 530-898-5321 E-Mail michael at ecst.csuchico.edu michaelperelman.wordpress.com
