Editing Interest (section)

===Theories of exploitation, productivity and abstinence===
The classical theory of interest explains it as the capitalist's share of business profits, but the pre-marginalist authors were unable to reconcile these profits with the [[labor theory of value]] (excluding Longfield, who was essentially a marginalist). Their responses often had a moral tone: Ricardo and Marx viewed profits as exploitation, and [[John Ramsay McCulloch|McCulloch]]'s productivity theory justified profits by portraying capital equipment as an embodiment of accumulated labor.{{sfn|Schumpeter|1954}}{{page needed|date=June 2019}} The theory that interest is a payment for abstinence is attributed to [[Nassau William Senior|Nassau Senior]], and according to Schumpeter{{sfn|Schumpeter|1954}}{{page needed|date=June 2019}} was intended neutrally, but it can easily be understood as making a moral claim and was sharply criticised by Marx and [[Ferdinand Lassalle|Lassalle]].