… is from page 91 of Robert Higgs’s 1971 volume, The Transformation of the American Economy: 1865-1914; Bob’s discussion here is of the manner in which historians frequently misunderstand and falsely portray the economics of land, but the underlying point is more general (original emphasis):
Historians have similarly erred by using the term “speculator” to characterize a person who buys solely with the intent to resell and not to cultivate. The objection to this usage is that in a private property system every owner of an asset is necessarily a speculator in the sense that he bears the risk of reductions in the value of the assets but hopes that the value will rise.
