The Economic Way of Thinking 13th Edition by David Prychitko, Peter Boettke, Paul Heyne

Exercise 5

"Everybody knows" that laborers receive wages and only owners receive aprofits. But is it true?
(a) If employees agree to continue working for an employer who is currently unable to pay them, because they don't want the firm to fail, are they working for wages or for profits?
(b) If you agree to loan your lawn mower to someone who wants to start a lawn-care business, on condition that he pay you $2 each time he borrows it, are you a capitalist? Is your $2 properly called profit? Would your answers differ if he agreed to pay you 20 percent of his gross receipts?