Author information:
Katalin Botos: University of Szeged, Professor Emerita; Pázmány Péter Catholic University, Professor Emerita. E-mail: evmkabor@gmail.com
Abstract:
This essay draws attention to some of the important aspects of, and learnings from, Irving Fisher’s work. Fisher was the first economist to subject big volumes of data to analysis. He was one of the founders and first president of the Econometric Society. His name is associated with the quantity theory of money. He researched the purchasing power of money, index numbers, created the so-called Fisher index, wrote about the theory of interest rates, economic cycles, dwelled upon debt deflation and the theory of the Great Depression. He was one of the first advocates of abandoning the gold standard. He also drew attention to the psychological motives of the behaviours of economic actors, so the theories of Thalerian behavioural economics can regard him as their predecessor. His insight was used in managing the financial crisis of 2008. The steps towards reforming bank regulation can specifically be regarded as such measures, while Modern Monetary Theory stretched back as far as his thoughts on the regulation of the creation of money, i.e. the Chicago plan.
Cite as (APA):
Botos, K. (2022). What Can Posterity Learn from Irving Fisher?. Financial and Economic Review, 21(2), 175–187. https://doi.org/10.33893/FER.21.2.175
Column:
Essay
Journal of Economic Literature (JEL) codes:
E31, E32, B31, C58, D91, G28, E12, B52
Keywords:
history of theory, crisis theory, deflation, behavioural economics, financial markets, regulation policy, modern monetary theory
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