“THE BEST PROPOSAL EVER OFFERED FOR SPEEDILY AND PERMANENTLY SOLVING THE PROBLEM OF DEPRESSIONS”: PRESENTATION COPY OF FISHER’S 100% MONEY, INSCRIBED BY HIM
FISHER, Irving. 100% Money. Designed to Keep Checking Banks 100% Liquid; To Prevent Inflation and Deflation; Largely to Cure or Prevent Depressions; and to Wipe Out Much of the National Debt. New York: Adelphi, (1936). Octavo, original navy cloth, original dust jacket.
Revised edition, presentation copy, of this proposal urging the raising of reserve requirements against checking deposits from 10% to 100%, meant to prevent the same run on banks seen in the Great Depression, inscribed: "To Mr. Alden A. Potter with the compliments and good wishes of Irving Fisher. November, 1941."
After losing his fortune in the stock market crash, Irving Fisher staked his entire reputation on supporting the concept of 100% money. Under the system, banks would not be able to loan money they did not actually have. It would, in other words, impose a "100%" reserve requirement on banks, keeping the creation of money solely within the purview of government. While the scheme would have guaranteed the security of all money placed in the bank and thus been beneficial to customers, the limits on profitability for banks ultimately proved too restrictive and 100% money was never adopted. The consequences of that choice have been evident in numerous economic downturns in recent years. Considered "the father of monetary economics" (Pressman, 91), "Irving Fisher was, in the opinion of many, the leading economic theorist in the United States during the first half of the 20th century" (ANB). The first edition was published in 1935. This copy is inscribed to Alden A. Potter, a member of the American Economic Association to moved to Maryland and established a farm after completing his education. While he was an active farmer, he also wrote extensively on scientific and economic matters—including agricultural economics—and maintained a correspondence with important figures such as Linus Pauling. Potter was particularly vocal about post-war economic plans and even ran unsuccessfully for Senate in the 1950s.
Book with only a few spots of scattered foxing and cloth with only faintest stain. Dust jacket with faint stain and light rubbing and toning mainly to extremities. A near-fine inscribed copy.