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“Breed Out the Unfit and Breed In the Fit”

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  • Annie L. Cot

Abstract

Fisher's virulent positions on such themes as “race degeneration”, the necessity of sterilization measures for certain categories of the American population, and his urgent call for the control of the genetic quality of new immigrants are hardly consistent with the opalescent subtlety of academic disputes over the nature of capital and interest. Although Fisher repeats it often: in his work, this question of the nature of capital and interest is directly linked to eugenic assumptions and analysis. This second body of Fisherian work illuminates the strong epistemological and theoretical references in Fisher's work as an economist. This paper addresses this question through three major themes: the constant denunciation of a «racial decay» of the American population and its corollary: the project of setting up a «scientific humaniculture»; the plea against the eugenic effects of World War I, and the then haunting question of the closing of the «Golden Door».

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  • Annie L. Cot, 2005. "“Breed Out the Unfit and Breed In the Fit”," American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 64(3), pages 793-826, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:ajecsc:v:64:y:2005:i:3:p:793-826
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1536-7150.2005.00392.x
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    1. Thomas C. Leonard, 2003. "“More Merciful and Not Less Effective”: Eugenics and American Economics in the Progressive Era," History of Political Economy, Duke University Press, vol. 35(4), pages 687-712, Winter.
    2. James A. Field, 1911. "The Progress of Eugenics," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 26(1), pages 1-67.
    3. Fisher, Irving, 1907. "The Rate of Interest," History of Economic Thought Books, McMaster University Archive for the History of Economic Thought, number fisher1907.
    4. Frank H. Knight, 1931. "Professor Fisher's Interest Theory: A Case in Point," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 39(2), pages 176-176.
    5. Irving Fisher, 1916. "Some Impending National Problems," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 24(7), pages 694-694.
    6. Veblen, Thorstein, 1908. "Fisher's Capital and Income," History of Economic Thought Articles, McMaster University Archive for the History of Economic Thought, vol. 23.
    7. Walker, Francis Amasa, 1896. "Restriction from Immigration," History of Economic Thought Articles, McMaster University Archive for the History of Economic Thought, vol. 77, pages 822-830, June.
    8. Peart, Sandra J. & Levy, David M., 2003. "Denying Human Homogeneity: Eugenics & The Making of Post-Classical Economics," Journal of the History of Economic Thought, Cambridge University Press, vol. 25(3), pages 261-288, September.
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    Cited by:

    1. Curott, Nicholas A. & Snow, Nicholas A., 2022. "Nudging To Prohibition? A Reassessment of Irving Firsher’s Economics of Prohibition in Light of Modern Behavioral Economics," OSF Preprints dv97k, Center for Open Science.

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