Suggested Problems For Teachers

Suggested Problems for Teachers for Use with Elementary Principles of Economics is a companion volume by Irving Fisher to his major economics textbook Elementary Principles of Economics, originally published in 1912. Fisher, the American economist who lived from 1867 to 1947, was one of the most important American economic theorists of the early twentieth century, with substantial contributions to monetary theory, capital theory, statistical method, and various other areas of economic analysis.

The Elementary Principles of Economics was Fisher’s major textbook contribution and was used in American college and university economics courses for many years after its initial publication. The textbook covered the standard topics of early twentieth century introductory economics including the basic principles of supply and demand, the theory of value and price, the theory of money and credit, the theory of capital and interest, the theory of distribution among the various factors of production, and the various practical applications of economic theory to contemporary policy questions.

The Suggested Problems companion was designed to support college instructors using the main textbook by providing concrete problems, discussion questions, and analytical exercises that students could work through to apply the principles of the textbook to specific situations. The use of problem sets in college teaching was becoming more systematic during the early twentieth century, and Fisher was one of the writers who was helping to develop the various methods by which economics could be taught at the introductory level through a combination of textbook reading and structured problem work.

The problems in the volume cover the various topics treated in the main textbook. They include numerical exercises requiring students to apply quantitative methods to economic questions, discussion problems that required students to think through the various sides of contemporary policy debates, and the kinds of conceptual problems that required students to apply the abstract principles of economic theory to specific concrete situations. The treatment throughout reflects Fisher’s particular style as an economist, with substantial attention to careful quantitative analysis combined with broader engagement with the practical and policy implications of the theoretical positions.

The book is mostly of interest now to historians of American economics education and to readers studying the development of Fisher’s pedagogical methods alongside his more famous theoretical contributions. It pairs naturally with the Elementary Principles textbook itself and with Fisher’s other major works.