Journal of Economic Perspectives
ISSN 0895-3309 (Print) | ISSN 1944-7965 (Online)
Retrospectives: Irving Fisher's Appreciation and Interest (1896) and the Fisher Relation
Journal of Economic Perspectives
vol. 26,
no. 4, Fall 2012
(pp. 185–96)
(Complimentary)
Abstract
Irving Fisher's monograph Appreciation and Interest (1896) proposed his famous equation showing expected inflation as the difference between nominal interest and real interest rates. In addition, he drew attention to insightful remarks and numerical examples scattered through the earlier literature, and he derived results ranging from the uncovered interest arbitrage parity condition between currencies to the expectations theory of the term structure of interest rates. As J. Bradford DeLong wrote in this journal (Winter 2000), "The story of 20th century macroeconomics begins with Irving Fisher" and specifically with Appreciation and Interest because "the transformation of the quantity theory of money into a tool for making quantitative analyses and predictions of the price level, inflation, and interest rates was the creation of Irving Fisher." I discuss the message of Appreciation and Interest, and assess how original he was.Citation
Dimand, Robert W., and Rebeca Gomez Betancourt. 2012. "Retrospectives: Irving Fisher's Appreciation and Interest (1896) and the Fisher Relation." Journal of Economic Perspectives 26 (4): 185–96. DOI: 10.1257/jep.26.4.185JEL Classification
- B13 History of Economic Thought: Neoclassical through 1925 (Austrian, Marshallian, Walrasian, Stockholm School)
- B31 History of Economic Thought: Individuals
- E31 Price Level; Inflation; Deflation
- E43 Interest Rates: Determination, Term Structure, and Effects