In practice, however, there appears never to have been a society in which the rate of return on
capital fell naturally and persistently to less than 2–3 percent, and the mean return we generally see
(averaging over all types of investments) is generally closer to 4–5 percent (before taxes). In
particular, the return on agricultural land in traditional societies, like the return on real estate in
today’s societies—these being the most common and least risky forms of investment in each case—is
generally around 4–5 percent, with perhaps a slight downward trend over the very long run (to 3–4
percent rather than 4–5).