Below are some quotations I selected for Irving Fisher to go on an
economist's calendar. If any of you have any "better" selections
please let me know.
A few ground rules for the discussion:
1. Space is limited, so please accompany any suggested quotation
with a suggestion of which quotation to cut.
2. The new quotation can be no longer than the cut quotation.
3. Please give the source for any quotation you give--I will have to
get permissions for each.
Thanks,
Dave Colander
Irving Fisher
"[Fisher's The Nature of Capital and Income] is 'Fisheresque' and
therefore difficult to summarize, that is to say, it is worked out
with the author's well-known and unflinching thoroughness and his
merciless marshalling of details. It is also characterized throughout
by a certain scientific hardheadedness which is not always found
nowadays in writings upon capital and allied topics. (Thomas Nixon
Carver, American Economic Association Bulletin, April, 1908).
"It is but natural that the heretical views contained in my book,
"The Nature of Capital and Income", should have aroused criticism,
but I confess I have been surprised at the manner in which this
criticism has been distributed. Many of the views expressed to which
resistance was expected have been accepted, while some of those which
seemed beyond debate have been among the first to be questioned. The
most striking instance of the latter is found in the case of the
thesis that an increase in the value of capital is not a part of
income. This has been a cherished heresy of mine since it was first
stated in 1897. (21, Are Savings Income? Irving Fisher, American
Economic Association Quarterly, 3rd Series, Vol. 9, No. 1)
"When we say "the prices of goods are determined by supply and
demand" we almost always ignore money. We only think of the supply
and demand of goods. But that is only half of the story. Prices of
goods are determined by the supply and demand not only of goods, but
by the supply and demand of gold in terms of which, through money,
all prices are expressed." (134, The Monetary Side of the Cost of
Living Problem
Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, Vol.
48, The Cost of Living (Jul., 1913)).
"The old and apparently still persistent notion of "the" business
cycle, as a single, simple, self generating cycle (analogous to that
of a pendulum swinging under influence of the single force of
gravity) and as actually realized historically in regularly recurring
crises, is a myth. Instead of one force there are many forces. (338,
"The Debt-Deflation Theory of Great Depression" Econometrica, Vol. 1,
No. 4 (Oct., 1933)).
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