On the Relationship between the Money Rate of Interest and Aggregate Investment Spending

Abstract

Careful observers had already pointed out before the capital theory controversies that an investment demand schedule inversely responsive to the rate of interest is theoretically untenable. This implies that the weak empirical evidence showing the negative relation between aggregate investment spending and the rate of interest cannot be explained via the neoclassical investment theory. Assuming a short-run framework and concentrating on the “Sources and Uses of Funds Account,” it is shown here that the inverse relationship between the two variables derives, not from the investment demand function, but from the ability to finance investment spending. The explanation is valid only in the short run. In the long run, aggregate investment spending may rise, fall, or remain constant in response to a change in the rate of interest. JEL Classification: B51, E11, E22, G31