Irving Fisher was one of the greatest and certainly one of the most colorful American economists. Widely acknowledged as the chief architect of modern neo-classical economics, he was a writer and teacher of prodigious scope and output whose business career included the earning of a fortune from the invention of a card index system, and its subsequent loss in the Great Crash. He was also an active campaigner for numerous causes, including world peace, prohibition, and 100 percent deposit reserve money. This biography, focusing both on Fisher's personal life, as well as on his intellectual contributions, will be of wide interest to economists and of particular interest to American economics scholars who regard him as their pre-1950 giant of the discipline.

Acclaimed by Joseph Schumpeter as ‘The greatest economist the United States has ever produced’, this book examines the life and work of American economist and statistician Irving Fisher (1867–1947). Fisher’s reputation suffered for decades after his incorrect predictions for the stock market in October 1929 and the impact of Keynesian macroeconomics, but the importance of his work came to be recognized through the advocacy of many prestigious scholars including Milton Friedman, Hyman Minsky and James Tobin. With pivotal contributions including his Debt-Deflation Theory, Fisher Diagram and Ideal Index Number, his research in neoclassical economics influenced policymaking in his own day as well as during the recent financial crisis. This volume will be of interest to all those interested in the twentieth century transformation of economics.

In economics, money illusion refers to the tendency of people to think of currency in nominal, rather than real, terms. In other words, the numerical/face value (nominal value) of money is mistaken for its purchasing power (real value). This is false, as modern fiat currencies have no inherent value and their real value is derived from their ability to be exchanged for goods and used for payment of taxes. The term was coined by John Maynard Keynes in the early twentieth century. Almost every one is subject to the "Money Illusion" in respect to his own country's currency. This seems to him to be stationary while the money of other countries seems to change. It may seem strange but it is true that we see the rise or fall of foreign money better than we see that of our own.-IRVING FISHER

This 14-volume edition contains the key works and commentary by leading Fisher scholars, allowing modern readers access to the major issues in Fisherian economic thought.