Dimand Irving Fisher

1. Auflage 2019
ISBN: 978-3-030-05177-8
Verlag: Springer International Publishing
Format: PDF
Kopierschutz: 1 - PDF Watermark

E-Book, Englisch, 248 Seiten

Reihe: Progress in Mathematics

Acclaimed by Joseph Schumpeter as 'The greatest economist the United States has ever produced', this book examines the life and work of American economist and statistician Irving Fisher (1867-1947). Fisher's reputation suffered for decades after his incorrect predictions for the stock market in October 1929 and the impact of Keynesian macroeconomics, but the importance of his work came to be recognized through the advocacy of many prestigious scholars including Milton Friedman, Hyman Minsky and James Tobin.  With pivotal contributions including his Debt-Deflation Theory, Fisher Diagram and Ideal Index Number, his research in neoclassical economics influenced policymaking in his own day as well as during the recent financial crisis. This volume will be of interest to all those interested in the twentieth century transformation of economics.


Robert Dimand is Professor of Economics at Brock University, Canada. In 2012-2013 he was President of the History of Economics Society. His first book, The Origins of the Keynesian Revolution (1988), was based on his Yale PhD dissertation, supervised by James Tobin. Since then he has authored and edited a dozen books, and more than 100 refereed journal articles. He previously published another book in this series entitled James Tobin (2014).

Autoren/Hrsg.

Dimand, Robert W.

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1;Forthcoming Titles;7
2;Acknowledgements;10
3;Contents;12
4;1 Economic Scientist, Economic and Social Reformer;14
4.1;Introduction;14
4.2;Overview of the Book;20
4.3;Conclusion: A Great Economist;25
4.4;References;26
5;2 Indifference Curves and a Hydraulic Model of General Equilibrium;29
5.1;Introduction: Fisher’s General Equilibrium;29
5.2;Writing the Dissertation;32
5.3;Indifference Curves: The Elusive Measurability of Utility;35
5.4;The Influence of Gibbs;39
5.5;Fisher’s Hydraulic Machine;40
5.6;Influence, Neglect, and Rediscovery;42
5.7;Conclusion;49
5.8;References;50
6;3 Revitalizing the Quantity Theory of Money: From the Fisher Relation to the Fisher Equation;57
6.1;Introduction;57
6.2;Fisher and the Quantity Theory of Money;59
6.3;The Context of Appreciation and Interest and of The Purchasing Power of Money;61
6.3.1;Appreciation and Interest;65
6.4;Fisher and the Equation of Exchange;69
6.5;Fisher and the Velocity of Circulation;73
6.6;The Dance of the Dollar—And Its Remedy;75
6.7;Fisher’s Contribution to Monetary Economics;79
6.8;References;81
7;4 The Fisher Diagram and the Neoclassical Theory of Interest and Capital;86
7.1;Introduction: Impatience and Opportunity to Invest;86
7.2;The Fisher Diagram;89
7.3;The Fisher Equation;92
7.4;Sources: Rae, Turgot, Böhm-Bawerk, and Landry;96
7.5;Institutionalist Critics: Commons and Veblen;110
7.6;Keynes’s Marginal Efficiency of Capital and Fisher’s Rate of Return Over Cost;115
7.7;Conclusion;116
7.8;References;118
8;5 Taming the “Dance of the Dollar”: From the Compensated Dollar to 100% Money;124
8.1;Rejecting the “So-Called Business Cycle”;124
8.2;The Dance of the Dollar;129
8.3;A Remedy for the Dance of the Dollar: Fisher’s Compensated Dollar Plan;131
8.4;A New Remedy for the Dance of the Dollar: Fisher and 100% Money;137
8.5;References;141
9;6 Fighting Money Illusion: The Fisher Ideal Index Number;146
9.1;Introduction;146
9.2;Toward an “Ideal Index”;150
9.3;Reception, Criticism, and Response;156
9.4;Conclusion;161
9.5;References;164
10;7 Hubris, Nemesis, and Analysis: “Stock Prices Appear to Have Reached a Permanently High Plateau”;168
10.1;A Black Mark of Infamy;168
10.2;Fisher’s Contributions to Understanding Financial Markets;169
10.3;Stocks Versus Bonds;170
10.4;Falling off a Permanently High Plateau;175
10.5;Fisher’s Statisticians: Karsten and Sasuly;177
10.6;Alfred Cowles;179
10.7;Conclusion;180
10.8;References;180
11;8 The Debt-Deflation Theory of Great Depressions;185
11.1;Fisher’s Audience;187
11.2;Diagnosis of the Depression;190
11.3;The Experience of the 1920s and 1930s;195
11.4;A Fisher Model of Deflation and Depression;198
11.5;Bernanke and King Read Fisher (1933) and Study the Debt-Deflation of the 1930s;201
11.6;Fisher’s Debt-Deflation Theory and the Literature;204
11.7;References;206
12;9 Changing Economics: Irving Fisher, the Cowles Commission, and the Econometric Society;211
12.1;Introduction;211
12.2;Fisher Encounters Mathematical Economics;212
12.3;Some Mainstream Reactions to Fisher’s Mathematical Economics;215
12.4;Fisher and the Origins of the Econometric Society;217
12.5;Fisher and Cowles;222
12.6;Conclusion;226
12.7;References;228
13;10 Fisher’s Legacy in Economics;232
13.1;Introduction: Fall and Rise;232
13.2;Return from Obscurity;234
13.3;Pillars and Arches of an Unbuilt Temple;236
13.4;Institutional Influence and Isolation;238
13.5;Intellectual Roots;239
13.6;References;240
14;Index;244