Irving Fisher, 1867–1947: Appreciation and Interest

Abstract

Irving Fisher was born in New York in February 1867, the place where he also died, aged 81. Widely regarded as one of the major economists produced in America, his work is still at the root of contemporary neoclassical theory, particularly in the fields of capital and interest, money and prices. Fisher was, however, more than economist. He was an enthusiastic crusader for all sorts of causes ranging from prohibition to various aspects of hygienic living, induced by his bout with tuberculosis from 1898. He studied at Yale, staying at his alma mater for the rest of his career. There he worked eclectically at mathematics, physics, social sciences and philosophy. His doctoral dissertation, Mathematical Investigations in the Theory of Value and Price (1892) illustrates this wide ranging training, as do his many contributions to statistics and econometrics (with Ragnar Frisch and Charles Roos, he founded the Econometric Society in 1930). It also heralds the great mathematical economist who was later acclaimed as an independent discoverer of the core of general equilibrium analysis, indifference curves, and consumer choice theory in the light of problems with utility measurement (Schumpeter, 1952, pp. 224–6). Fisher followed on from this work with a substantial research program on capital and interest.