Irving Fisher: Difference between revisions

Fisher was born in [[Saugerties (village), New York|Saugerties, New York]]. His father was a teacher and a [[Congregational church|Congregational]] minister, who raised his son to believe he must be a useful member of society. Despite being raised in religious family, he later on became an atheist.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Economics of Prohibition|year=2007|publisher=Ludwig von Mises Institute|isbn=9781610160476|author=Mark Thornton|page=16|quote=Fisher's atheism would appear to place him at odds with religious reformers, the principal supporters of Prohibition. Still, though Fisher gave up belief in God and religion, he remained convinced of the doctrines and methods of postmillennialist evangelical Protestantism.}}</ref> As a child, he had remarkable mathematical ability and a flair for invention. A week after he was admitted to [[Yale University|Yale College]] his father died, at age 53. Irving then supported his mother, brother, and himself, mainly by tutoring. He graduated first in his class with a B.A degree in 1888, having also been elected as a member of the [[Skull and Bones]] society.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://mssa.library.yale.edu/obituary_record/1925_1952/1946-47.pdf | title=Obituary record of graduates deceased during the year ending July 1, 1947 | publisher=Yale University | year=1948 | accessdate=April 20, 2011}}</ref>{{rp|14}}

 

 

After graduating from Yale, Fisher studied in Berlin and Paris. From 1890 onward, he remained at Yale, first as a tutor, then after 1898 as a professor of political economy, and after 1935 as professor emeritus. He edited the ''Yale Review'' from 1896 to 1910 and was active in many learned societies, institutes, and welfare organizations. He was president of the [[American Economic Association]] in 1918. The [[American Mathematical Society]] selected him as its Gibbs Lecturer for 1929.<ref>{{cite journal|author=Fisher, Irving|title=The application of mathematics to the social sciences|journal=Bull. Amer. Math. Soc.|year=1930|volume=36|issue=4|pages=225–243|mr=1561927|doi=10.1090/s0002-9904-1930-04919-8}}</ref> A leading early proponent of [[econometrics]], in 1930 he founded, with [[Ragnar Frisch]] and [[Charles F. Roos]] the [[Econometric Society]], of which he was the first president.

* [[Joseph Schumpeter]], 1951. ''Ten Great Economists'': 222–38.

* [[Joseph Schumpeter]]. 1954 ''A History of Economic Analysis'' (1954)

* [[James Tobin|Tobin, James]], 1987, "Fisher, Irving," ''[[The New Palgrave: A Dictionary of Economics]]'', Vol. 2: 369–76. Reprinted in ''American Journal of Economics and Sociology'', Jan, 2005, 17 [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0254/is_1_64/ai_n13798783/?tag=content;col1 pages.]

* [[James Tobin|Tobin, James]], 1985 "Neoclassical Theory in America: J. B. Clark and Fisher" ''American Economic Review'' (Dec 1985) vol 75#6 pp.&nbsp;28–38 [https://www.jstor.org/pss/1914327 in JSTOR]

* [http://socserv2.socsci.mcmaster.ca/~econ/ugcm/3ll3/index.html Archive for the History of Economic Thought] at [[McMaster University]]:

* [[New School for Social Research]] website:

** [https://web.archive.org/web/20080429203224/http://cepa.newschool.edu/het/essays/capital/fisherinvest.htm Irving Fisher's Theory of Investment.]

* [http://www.library.yale.edu/un/papers/fisher.htm Yale Manuscripts and Archives – Collections – Irving Fisher]