The Online Library of Liberty

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• Appendix a Critique of Böhm-bawerk’s Reasoning In Support of His Time Preference Theory
• Glossary
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J

Jesuit padres . . . commonwealth (Paraguay). A theocratic mission which governed native Indians from 1605 to 1769. It started when Spain granted the Society of Jesus exclusive rights to rule an area in what is now Paraguay and which then was inhabited by 100,000 to 200,000 Guarani Indians. The previously savage Indians were transformed into docile and devoted Christian converts who obeyed orders to farm the land, build imposing churches and perform simple tasks for an ecclesiastical government that ran each community like a religious convent. The theocracy ended soon after Spain in 1767 suppressed the Jesuit order in all Spanish areas.

Jobber. A middleman who buys from importers, wholesalers or manufacturers for resale to other dealers, usually retailers. The term is mostly used in a deprecatory sense.

Judgment of relevance. The weight, appraisal or relative importance that one attaches or assigns to each of many factors that contribute to a multi-caused outcome of human actions. Judgments of relevance are not arbitrary preferences, like judgments of value (q.v.), but are sincere attempts to weigh the relative significance of all contributing factors. However, they are subjective and thus subject to variation between honest men or able experts.

Judgment of value. The outcome of mental acts of an individual, which cannot be observed but which express his wants, tastes, desires, feelings, choices or preferences which incite or impel him to act in a certain manner at a given time, situation and environment in an attempt to substitute conditions he prefers for those he considers less satisfactory. A judgment of value is personal and subjective and thus not open to proof or disproof. It can only be identified by an action from which it is inferred.