Publication Details
Leeson, R.
(1995).
Fisher and Phillips.
History of Economics Review, 23 (Winter), 117-118.
Abstract
Just before the start of the Monetarist decade, the Journal of Political Economy (1973, 496-502) republished Irving Fisher's 1926 article on "A Statistical Relation Between Unemployment and Price Changes", under the title "I Discovered the Phillips Curve". Immediately, Milton Friedman (1976 [1974], 215, 232) used this archaeological discovery to assault his somewhat dazed Keynesian opponents: "The discussion of the Phillips curve started with truth in 1926, proceeded through error some thirty years later, and by now has returned back to 1926 and to the original truth. That is about fifty years for a complete circuit. You can see how technological development has speeded up the process of both producing and dissipating ignorance ... there is essentially no economist any longer who believes in the naive Phillips curve of the kind originally proposed".
Keywords
peer-reviewed
University of Notre Dame Australia Copyright Statement
