Faiz Teorileri Üzerine Bir İnceleme: Finansal İstikrarsızlık Hipotezinin Temel Dayanağı

Bu çalışma belli başlıfaiz teorilerini karşılaştırmalıolarak incelemektedir. Faizin tarihsel gelişim ve seyrine kısaca değinildikten sonra literatürde çok sayıda faiz teorisi olmasına rağmen çalışma esasen belli başlıüç faiz teorisini incelemektedir. Bu teoriler Böhm-Bawerk faiz teorisi, Fischer ve Keynes tarafından ileri sürülen teorilerdir. Keynes’in faiz teorisi eksik bir teoridir. Bu sebeple faiz olgusunu analitik olarak ispatlamaktan uzaktır. Böehm-Bawerk ve Fisher’in teorilerine gelince genel olarak yöneltilen temel itiraz tam öngürülebilirlik varsayımıile ilgilidir. Bireyler belli bir süre için sahipliğinden vazgeçtikleri servet ya da varlığa karşılık geriye belli bir miktar fazlayıfaiz olarak talep etmelerini gerektirebilecek pozitif bir zaman tercihine sahip olabilmeleri ihtimaline rağmen, ileri sürülen teorik çerçevede belirsizlik veya tesadüfülik orijınal yatırımda belli bir getiriyi sağlayacak sabit belli bir şekle sahip üretim imkanları dönüşüm eğrisinin var olduğunu varsayım olarak kabul eden borç alıcıtarafta sermayenin sabit bir zaman fiyatıolduğu haklılığınıgeçersiz kılar. Bu çalışma faize dayalıfinans işleminde fon sağlayıcıile fon kullanıcıarasında geliştirdiği tesadüfi dengesizlik kavramıyla finansal istikrarsızlık teorisi arasında bir bağkurmaktadır. Buna göre kapitalist finansal istikrarsızlığın temel kaynağıfaize dayalıfinans yönteminden kaynaklanan tesadüfi dengesizlik olgusudur.

The interest rate based financial practices have been carried out since the beginning of the history. One way or another a kind of interest based lending practices are performed in every society. On the other hand interest based transactions have been under the strict control of authorities in nearly all societies. Some time the interest based lending had been banded, for most of the time it had been restricted with a maximum rate, or it had been regulated with other sources of methods. Now days although liberal trend let a general deregulation all over the world about financial practices and interest rate based lending, current economic and financial crises point out issues which are directly related the rates of interest. In order to deal with the related issues there is need to look at various theories of interest rate. Although there are numerous theories of interest rate, an important three of them call special attention. These are theories named as Boehm-Bawerk, Fischer and Keynesian interest rate theories. This paper makes a brief survey of these theories in order to compare and contrast the main explanatory powers of those theories. Although most of the theoretical attempts to explain the existence of interest rates and their determination have been in the last two centuries, the practice of interest based financing is ancient, for example, old Sumer documents, from about 3000 B.C., reveal a systematic use of credit based loans for goods which often carried interest. It is also argued that in prehistoric times, even before the development of common measures of value, a medium of exchange, probably credit existed Homer, 1976.p.17 . On the other hand, in different historical communities nearly all types of interest based financing are prohibited; and legal maximum rates have often been declared by the authorities. Broadly, restrictions on interest rates seem to originate mostly from a religious basis and rarely on secular grounds. Before the three monotheist religions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, we come a cross Hammurabi Codes in ancient Mesopotamia, Solon's reforms in ancient Greece, and the Twelve Tables in Roman Law. These ancient civilizations often laid down basic regulations such as the maximum level of interest, rather than completely prohibiting interest based practices Homer, 1976.p.25-30. . In Europe there has been a significant controversy between the Church and the people who were in favour of interest. The controversy about the rate of interest continued until the Renaissance and, the Reformation in Europe, particularly in Christian communities, but Christian Church Doctrine which bans interest stated firm. The Reformation, the religious revolution of the 16th century, brought the Church Doctrine under review. Martin Luther , Zwingli, Calvin criticized the Doctrine in their writings. Luther accepted that interest was a concession to human frailty. Furthermore, Calvin had a great effect on the anti-usury law by discriminating between usury and interest with respect to the risk involved in the use of borrowed funds Taylor and Evan, 1987. . Thus, with the widespread reforms in Europe, Church Doctrine lost its meaning in practice Homer, 1976. Ch.3 . However, until the 19th century the questions of why the rate of interest exists and it is determined were not significantly examined. On the other hand, although interest has been accepted as a price for money, this price was not allowed to be determined by basic market forces, but it has been rather strictly controlled and regulated by public authorities through Usury Laws and other different regulations, and also by oligopolistic banking and the merchant structure in almost every Western country until recently