1.1. What would happen to the value of the estate if the interest rate on the securities that Professor Serebryakov is talking about fell? In Chekhov’s play Uncle Vanya, Alexander Vladimirovitch Serebryakov, a retired professor, but apparently not of economics, calls his household together to make an announcement. He has retired to his country estate, but he does not like living there. Unfortunately, the estate does not derive enough income to allow him to live in town. To his gathered household, he thus proposes the following:

Omitting details, I will put it before you in rough outline. Our estate yields on an average not more than two percent, on its capital value. I propose to sell it. If we invest the money in suitable securities, we should get from 4 to 5 percent, and I think we might even have a few thousand roubles to spare for buying a small villa in Finland.