[Diskussionsbeitrag zum Kohlenbergbau, Bd. II, S. 501, Nr. 45]

Emil Lederer: Intervention on Coal Mining (1920)

This recorded commission speaking turn examines whether a stable valuation, maintained throughout a repayment process, can prevent an operator from sacrificing a mine’s long-term condition for immediate returns. Lederer first checks his understanding of the arrangement, then questions its incentive effects:

Würde dadurch das Bedenken beseitigt werden, daß der Unternehmer gegen das Ende der Tilgungsperiode geneigt sein wird, möglichst viel aus seinem Betrieb herauszuziehen, genau wie man in der Kriegswirtschaft die Flöze abgebaut hat, die am geringsten kosten?

English translation: Would this remove the concern that, toward the end of the repayment period, the entrepreneur would be inclined to extract as much as possible from his operation, just as, in the wartime economy, the seams that cost the least were mined?

The wartime comparison makes the concern concrete: selecting the cheapest seams can favor present returns over the mine’s future productive condition. Lederer thus distinguishes stability of valuation from incentives to preserve the enterprise.

Der Unternehmer hat nur das Interesse an der Senkung der Selbstkosten. Denn wenn das Werk auch schlecht wird, das interessiert ihn nicht.

English translation: The entrepreneur is interested only in reducing production costs. For even if the enterprise deteriorates, that does not interest him.

The intervention’s central move is to test a financial arrangement against the operator’s interests near its endpoint. The recorded expressions of assent provide no developed answer or remedy; the passage’s significance lies in identifying the possible divergence between private cost reduction and preservation of productive assets.