Anthony Clinton Fisher
Anthony Clinton Fisher is an American environmental and resource economist, professor emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley, known for foundational work on the economics of irreversible environmental decisions, option value, and the economics of climate change.
His 1974 paper with Kenneth Arrow, ‘Environmental Preservation, Uncertainty, and Irreversibility’ (Quarterly Journal of Economics), and his 1972 paper with Krutilla and Cicchetti on the Hells Canyon dam case, are foundational, widely taught contributions to environmental economics.
He served as president of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists (2003–2004).
Notability & Coverage Analysis
The Arrow–Fisher quasi-option-value concept and the Krutilla–Cicchetti–Fisher framework are core, textbook-level contributions to environmental economics; a 2019 Journal of the History of Economic Thought article by H. Spencer Banzhaf independently discusses this literature’s origin and significance, a genuine independent secondary engagement with the scholarly tradition Fisher helped found (though the article centers on Krutilla).
Kenneth Arrow, Fisher’s co-author on the quasi-option-value paper, is a Nobel laureate, and the paper is one of the most cited results in the environmental-economics literature — a strong signal under WP:NPROF C1.
As AERE president, Fisher held a leadership role in a major, independent scholarly society (supports WP:NPROF C6).
Solutions
Existing Article Audit
Content
- The article is reasonably well organized around distinct research themes (preservation economics, climate change, quasi-option value, tropical forestry), stronger structurally than several other articles in this batch.
- It would benefit from explicitly naming Kenneth Arrow’s Nobel Prize status when introducing the 1974 paper, an easily verifiable, non-promotional fact that strengthens the reader’s sense of the paper’s stature.
Sources
- The Banzhaf 2019 historiographical source is a genuine find — the article currently underuses it, citing it once for a narrow point when it could support a fuller discussion of Fisher’s place in the field’s history.
- AERE presidency and fellowship pages are strong, independent, and currently well used.
Compliance
- Verifiability: generally strong.
- NPOV: neutral, non-promotional tone throughout.
- Notability: comparatively the strongest WP:NPROF C1 case among the economists in this batch, given the Arrow co-authorship and independent historiographical treatment.
Improvement Plan
- Expand the use of the Banzhaf 2019 JHET article to more fully contextualize Fisher’s place in the environmental-economics tradition.
- Add exact degree years for the Columbia A.B. and Ph.D. if a reliable source can independently confirm dates beyond the CV.
- Consider noting Kenneth Arrow’s Nobel laureate status where the 1974 co-authored paper is introduced, as encyclopedic context.
- No major compliance issues identified; this article needs comparatively light editing relative to the rest of the batch.