IN GEOMETRIC TERMS

willing, if necessary, as shown in Chart 27, to borrow hisfirst $100 at 30 per cent, considerably above the marketrate, 10 per cent. That is, he would be willing to sacrifice$130 out of next year’s income in order to add $100 tothis year’s income. To get a second $100 this year, he

-This Tear's lucerne

CHART 27

Varying Degrees of Impatience Represented by the Slope of the Wi line.

would not be willing to pay quite so much, but only, say,$120. A third $100 would be worth to him only $110; afourth still less, and so on. These willingness points makea curved staircase, the steps being from Pi to Wx, fromWx to Wx", and so on, in which each tread is taken to be$100, but the risers are decreasing as the borrower stepsdown southeasterly, being successively 130, 120, 110. The

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