Paul Samuelson

Paul Anthony Samuelson (May 15, 1915 – December 13, 2009) was an American economist who was the first American to win the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences. When awarding the prize in 1970, the Swedish Royal Academies stated that he "has done more than any other contemporary economist to raise the level of scientific analysis in economic theory".[4] Economic historian Randall E. Parker has called him the "Father of Modern Economics",[5] and The New York Times considers him to be the "foremost academic economist of the 20th century".[6]

Quick facts: Paul Samuelson, Born, Died, Academic career, ... ▼

Paul Samuelson
Samuelson c. 1970-1975
Born	Paul Anthony Samuelson (1915-05-15)May 15, 1915 Gary, Indiana, U.S.
Died	December 13, 2009(2009-12-13) (aged 94) Belmont, Massachusetts, U.S.
Academic career
Institution	Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Field	Macroeconomics
School or tradition	Neo-Keynesian economics
Alma mater	University of Chicago (BA) Harvard University (MA, PhD)
Doctoral advisor	Joseph Schumpeter Wassily Leontief
Doctoral students	Robert Solow, Lawrence Klein[1][2] Robert C. Merton[3]
Influences	Keynes • Schumpeter • Leontief • Haberler • Hansen • Wilson • Wicksell • Lindahl
Contributions	Neoclassical synthesis Mathematical economics Economic methodology Revealed preference International trade Economic growth Public goods
Awards	John Bates Clark Medal (1947) Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences (1970) National Medal of Science (1996)
Information at IDEAS / RePEc

Part of a series on
Macroeconomics
Basic concepts Aggregate demand Aggregate supply Business cycle Deflation Demand shock Disinflation Effective demand Expectations Adaptive Rational Financial crisis Growth Inflation Demand-pull Cost-push Interest rate Investment Liquidity trap Measures of national income and output GDP GNI NNI Microfoundations Money Endogenous Money creation Demand for money Liquidity preference Money supply National accounts SNA Nominal rigidity Price level Recession Shrinkflation Stagflation Supply shock Saving Unemployment
Policies Fiscal Monetary Commercial Central bank Universal basic income
Models IS–LM AD–AS Keynesian cross Multiplier Accelerator Phillips curve Arrow–Debreu Harrod–Domar Solow–Swan Ramsey–Cass–Koopmans Overlapping generations General equilibrium DSGE Endogenous growth Matching theory Mundell–Fleming Overshooting NAIRU
Related fields Econometrics Economic statistics Monetary economics Development economics International economics
Schools Mainstream Keynesian Neo- New Monetarism New classical Real business-cycle theory Stockholm Supply-side New neoclassical synthesis Saltwater and freshwater Heterodox Austrian Chartalism Modern monetary theory Ecological Post-Keynesian Circuitism Disequilibrium Marxian Market monetarism
People François Quesnay Adam Smith Thomas Robert Malthus Karl Marx Léon Walras Knut Wicksell Irving Fisher Wesley Clair Mitchell John Maynard Keynes Alvin Hansen Michał Kalecki Gunnar Myrdal Simon Kuznets Joan Robinson Friedrich Hayek John Hicks Richard Stone Hyman Minsky Milton Friedman Paul Samuelson Lawrence Klein Edmund Phelps Robert Lucas Jr. Edward C. Prescott Peter Diamond William Nordhaus Joseph Stiglitz Thomas J. Sargent Paul Krugman N. Gregory Mankiw
See also Macroeconomic model Publications in macroeconomics Economics Applied Microeconomics Political economy Mathematical economics
Money portal  Business portal
v t e

Samuelson was likely the most influential economist of the latter half of the 20th century.[7][8] In 1996, when he was awarded the National Medal of Science, considered to be America's top science-honor, President Bill Clinton commended Samuelson for his "fundamental contributions to economic science" for over 60 years.[4] Samuelson considered mathematics to be the "natural language" for economists and contributed significantly to the mathematical foundations of economics with his book Foundations of Economic Analysis.[9] He was author of the best-selling economics textbook of all time: Economics: An Introductory Analysis, first published in 1948.[10] It was the second American textbook that attempted to explain the principles of Keynesian economics. It is now in its 19th edition, having sold nearly 4 million copies in 40 languages.[11] James Poterba, former head of MIT's Department of Economics, noted that by his book, Samuelson "leaves an immense legacy, as a researcher and a teacher, as one of the giants on whose shoulders every contemporary economist stands".[4]

He entered the University of Chicago at age 16, during the depths of the Great Depression, and received his PhD in economics from Harvard. After graduating, he became an assistant professor of economics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) when he was 25 years of age and a full professor at age 32. In 1966, he was named Institute Professor, MIT's highest faculty honor.[4] He spent his career at MIT, where he was instrumental in turning its Department of Economics into a world-renowned institution by attracting other noted economists to join the faculty, including later winners of the Nobel Prize Robert Solow (Samuelson's protégé), Robert C. Merton (one of his doctoral students), Franco Modigliani, Joseph Stiglitz, and Paul Krugman.

He served as an advisor to President John F. Kennedy and President Lyndon B. Johnson, and was a consultant to the United States Treasury, the Bureau of the Budget and the President's Council of Economic Advisers. Samuelson wrote a weekly column for Newsweek magazine along with Chicago School economist Milton Friedman, where they represented opposing sides: Samuelson, as a self described "Cafeteria Keynesian",[7] claimed taking the Keynesian perspective but only accepting what he felt was good in it.[7] By contrast, Friedman represented the monetarist perspective.[12] Together with Henry Wallich, their 1967 columns earned the magazine a Gerald Loeb Special Award in 1968.[13]

Samuelson worked in many theoretical fields, including: consumer theory; welfare economics; capital; finance, particularly the efficient-market hypothesis; public finance, particularly optimal allocation; international economics, particularly the Balassa–Samuelson effect and the Heckscher–Ohlin model; macroeconomics, particularly the overlapping generations model; and market economics.