Paul Samuelson

Paul Samuelson was an American economist who formalized mathematical methods in economics, wrote the influential textbook Economics, and received the first Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences awarded to an American.

Joseph Schumpeter: An Austrian-born economist known for theories of innovation, entrepreneurship, and economic development. At Harvard, Schumpeter taught Samuelson and helped form the intellectual environment around his early work.
Economics (textbook): Paul Samuelson’s introductory economics textbook, first published in 1948 and repeatedly revised. This book carried Samuelson’s synthesis of economic theory to generations of students.
Comparative statics: A method that compares equilibrium outcomes before and after a change in economic conditions. Samuelson used this method to clarify how economic models respond to changed parameters.
Foundations of Economic Analysis: Paul Samuelson’s 1947 book presenting a unified mathematical framework for economic theory. It made his method of deriving economic results from shared mathematical principles explicit.
Alvin Hansen: An American economist who developed and popularized Keynesian economics in the United States. Hansen’s seminars at Harvard helped Samuelson develop and communicate Keynesian economics.
Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences: An international prize awarded for outstanding contributions to economic sciences. Samuelson received the prize in 1970, becoming its first American laureate.
Revealed preference: An approach that infers preferences from observed choices rather than direct reports of satisfaction. Samuelson developed this approach as a way to build consumer theory from observable behavior.
Neoclassical synthesis: A postwar framework combining Keynesian short-run analysis with classical long-run economics. Samuelson’s textbook helped make this synthesis the standard introductory account of macroeconomics.
Robert Solow: An American economist whose model of economic growth emphasizes capital, labor, and technological progress. Solow was Samuelson’s colleague at MIT and a close collaborator in mathematical economics.
Econometric Society: An international learned society that advances economics through mathematical and statistical methods. Samuelson’s work exemplified the formal, quantitative economics the society promotes.

Linked from 19 pages