FISHER, IRVING. — American economist, b. at Sawgertes (New York) on 27 Feb. 1867, d. at New York on 29 Apr. 1947. Professor of mathematics at Yale, in 1895 he became assistant professor of political economy and in 1898 full professor. He took part in and directed numerous American commissions that dealt with problems of public hygiene, protectionism, prohibition, and labor. As an economist, F. was a staunch advocate of the theory of price stabilization, and to achieve this goal he believed that the value of the monetary unit should correspond not to a fixed quantity of metal but to a fixed quantity of goods. Of his many works, *L'illustrazione monetaria* (Milan 1930) has been translated into Italian.
BIBL.: M. Allais, *La vie et l'oeuvre de L. F.*, in *Revue d'économie politique*, May-June 1947; G. J. Shiras, in *The Economic Review Journal*, Sept. 1947.