Theory of Interest First Edition - Irving Fisher - Bauman Rare Books

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Theory of Interest

Irving FISHER

Item#: 76842 We're sorry, this item has been sold

Theory of Interest

“AMERICA’S FIRST GREAT ECONOMIST”

FISHER, Irving. The Theory of Interest As Determined by Impatience to Spend Income and Opportunity to Invest It. New York: Macmillan, 1930. Octavo, original dark blue cloth.

First edition of one of the most significant works by America’s first great economist.

Based on his own The Rate of Interest (1907) and building on the works of John Rae and Eugen von Böhm-Bawerk (to whom the volume is dedicated), Fisher provided the “definitive” solution to the nature of interest by proving that rates were determined by the demand for production and consumption loans on one hand and the supply of savings on the other (Great Economists Before Keynes, 79). Furthermore, Fisher employed statistical evidence that looks, even after six decades, “strikingly modern” (Niehans, 275). The Theory of Interest was a major departure from orthodox economics which relied upon the implications of Say’s Law that production creates it own demand and that interest constituted a kind of “rent.” Joseph Schumpeter called this work Fisher’s greatest because it redefined interest as “impatience and opportunity” and because it was basic to the monetarist view of the entire capitalist system. Without scarce original dust jacket. With errata before page vii. Niehans, 268. Blaug, 79. Fusfeld, 115.

A fine copy.

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Aquatint Copperplate process by which the plate is “bitten” by exposure to acid. By changing the areas of the plate that are exposed and the length of time the plate is submerged in the acid bath, the engraver can obtain fine and varying shades of gray that closely resemble watercolor washes. Although the name contains the word “tint”, this is a black-and-white printing process; aquatint plates can often be hand colored, however.
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