The Life and Works of Irving Fisher

Irving Fisher was born in New York state in 1867. His father was a teacher and Congregational minister, and the son wanted to be a useful member of society. Irving had mathematical ability and a flair for inventing things. He studied science and philosophy at Yale. Here he had a wide variety of interests. For example, he published poetry and works on astronomy, mechanics, and geometry. Fisher was also an inventor. Besides he wrote about and campaigned for world peace, healthy eating and a healthy lifestyle and his colleagues often regarded him as something of eccentric. Despite all of these interests, Fisher was more interested in mathematics and economics. Yale did not have an Economics Department at the time. Regardless, Fisher stayed at Yale for his whole career.

Fisher developed index numbers (a mathematical technique that is invaluable in economics) and principles of money and prices (they form the basis of monetarism today). While most of Fisher's energy went into business ventures, and he devoted the better part of his scientific effort to monetary economics, he is most famous today for his theory of interest and capital, studies of an ideal world from which the real world deviated at its peril. His most enduring intellectual work was his theory of capital (economics), investment, and interest rates that Fisher first exposited in his “The Nature of Capital and Income” (1906) and “The Rate of Interest” (1907). His 1930 treatise, “The Theory of Interest”, summed up a lifetime's work on capital, capital budgeting, credit markets, the determinants of interest rates, and the rate of inflation.

Fisher was the first to see that subjective economic value is not only a function of the amount of goods and services, but also of the moment in time when consumers purchase them. A good available now has a different value than the same good available at a later date; value possesses a time as well as a quantity dimension.

Irving Fisher was one of the clearest economics writers of all time. He had the intellect to introduce mathematics and its main principles in words. And he explained everything very well. Fisher's Theory of Interest is so clear that graduate economics students, who still study it today, often find that they can read—and understand—half the book in one sitting.

Fisher owned a company that merged with another to form Remington Rand. This merger made him a very wealthy man. However, he lost a great deal of this wealth in the stock market crash of 1929.

Fisher died in New York April 29, 1947.

Notes:

1. Congregational minister – министр университетского совета

2. Yale – [´jeil] – Йель

Yale University – Йельский университет

3. “The Nature of Capital and Income” – «Природа капитала и дохода»

4. “The Rate of Interest” – «Процентная ставка»

5. in one sitting – в один присест

I. Прочитайте текст (без словаря).

II. Перепишите предложения. Определите по грамматическим признакам, какой частью речи являются слова, оформленные окончанием -s и какую функцию это окончание выполняет, т.е. служит ли оно:

а) показателем 3-го лица единственного числа в Present Indefinite;

б) признаком множественного числа имени существительного;

в) показателем притяжательного падежа имени существительного.

Переведите предложения на русский язык.

1. Irving had mathematical ability and a flair for inventing things.

2. Fisher published poetry and works on astronomy, mechanics, and geometry.

3. Most of Fisher's energy went into business ventures.

4. Fisher's Theory of Interest summed up a lifetime's work on capital and money.

5. Value possesses a time as well as a quantity dimension.

III. Перепишите следующие предложения и переведите их, обращая внимание на особенности перевода на русский язык определений, выраженных именем существительным.

1. Fisher wrote about and campaigned for world peace.

2. Fisher developed index numbers (a mathematical technique that is invaluable in economics).

3. In one of his works Fisher described capital, capital budgeting, credit markets and the determinants of interest rates.

4. Fisher's Theory of Interest is very clear and understandable even for graduate economics students.

5. Irving Fisher lost a great deal of this wealth in the stock market crash of 1929.

IV. Перепишите следующие предложения, содержащие разные формы сравнения, и переведите их на русский язык.

1. Fisher had a wide variety of interests.

2. Fisher was more interested in mathematics and economics.

3. Irving Fisher was one of the clearest economics writers of all time.

4. Fisher devoted the better part of his scientific effort to monetary economics.

5. His most enduring intellectual work was his theory of capital, investment, and interest rates.

V. Перепишите следующие предложения, определите в них видо-временные формы глаголов и укажите их инфинитив. Переведите на русский язык.

1. Fisher studied science and philosophy at Yale.

2. Yale did not have an Economics Department at the time.

3. A mathematical technique is invaluable in economics.

4. Principles of money and prices form the basis of monetarism today.

5. He is most famous today for his theory of interest and capital, studies of an ideal world.

VI. Перепишите текст и переведите его на русский язык.

VII. Ответьте (письменно) на следующие вопросы к тексту.

1. When was Irving Fisher born?

2. What interests did Fisher have?

3. What was Fisher more interested in?

4. What theories did Fisher develop?

5. Why do economics students find Fisher’s works easy to understand?

Вариант 3

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