Paul Samuelson facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Paul Samuelson
Samuelson circa 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.
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 Robert C. Merton
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

Paul Anthony Samuelson (born May 15, 1915 – died December 13, 2009) was a very important American economist. He was the first American to win the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences. This award is like the Nobel Prize, but specifically for economics.

When he won the prize in 1970, the Swedish Royal Academies said he did more than anyone else to make economic theory more scientific. Some people even called him the "Father of Modern Economics". The New York Times newspaper said he was the most important academic economist of the 20th century.

Samuelson was probably the most influential economist in the second half of the 1900s. In 1996, he received the National Medal of Science, which is America's highest science award. President Bill Clinton praised Samuelson for his "fundamental contributions to economic science" for over 60 years.

Samuelson believed that mathematics was the "natural language" for economists. He greatly helped to use math in economics with his book Foundations of Economic Analysis. He also wrote the best-selling economics textbook ever, called Economics: An Introductory Analysis. It was first published in 1948. This book was one of the first American textbooks to explain the ideas of Keynesian economics. It has sold almost 4 million copies and has been translated into 40 languages.

James Poterba, who used to lead the economics department at MIT, said that Samuelson "leaves an immense legacy, as a researcher and a teacher, as one of the giants on whose shoulders every contemporary economist stands." This means that all economists today build on his ideas.

Samuelson started studying at the University of Chicago when he was just 16, during the Great Depression. He later earned his PhD in economics from Harvard University. After finishing school, he became a professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) at age 25. He became a full professor at 32. He spent his whole career at MIT. He helped make MIT's economics department famous by bringing in other great economists, including future Nobel Prize winners like Robert Solow and Paul Krugman.

He also advised Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson. He was a consultant for the U.S. Treasury and other government groups. Samuelson wrote a weekly column for Newsweek magazine. He often debated with another famous economist, Milton Friedman, about different economic ideas.

Samuelson studied many different areas of economics. These included how consumers make choices, how to make society better off, how money markets work, and how countries trade with each other.

Biography

Samuelson in 1997

Paul Samuelson was born in Gary, Indiana, on May 15, 1915. His father, Frank Samuelson, was a pharmacist. His family were Jewish immigrants from Poland who did well during World War I. In 1923, his family moved to Chicago. He finished high school there at Hyde Park High School.

He then went to the University of Chicago and got his first degree in 1935. He once joked that he was "born as an economist" at 8 AM on January 2, 1932, during a lecture about the British economist Thomas Robert Malthus. Malthus studied how population growth affects society. Samuelson felt that the economic ideas of his time didn't quite match how the world worked.

He continued his studies at Harvard University, earning his master's degree in 1936 and his PhD in 1941. His PhD paper, "Foundations of Analytical Economics," later became his famous book, Foundations of Economic Analysis. At Harvard, he learned from other important economists like Joseph Schumpeter and Alvin Hansen. Samuelson moved to MIT in 1940 and stayed there until he passed away.

Many of Samuelson's family members were also well-known economists. These included his brother Robert Summers and his nephew Larry Summers.

During his long career, Samuelson held many important positions:

• He started as an assistant professor at MIT in 1940 and became a full professor in 1947.
• In 1962, he was named Institute Professor, which is MIT's highest honor for a faculty member.

His Death

Paul Samuelson passed away on December 13, 2009, at the age of 94. His death was announced by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. James M. Poterba, an economics professor at MIT, said that Samuelson "leaves an huge legacy, as a researcher and a teacher, as one of the giants on whose shoulders every contemporary economist stands." This means his work is a foundation for all economists today.

What Paul Samuelson Studied

As a professor at MIT, Samuelson explored many different areas of economics. Here are some of them:

• Consumer Choices: He studied how people make choices about what to buy. He developed the idea of "revealed preference," which means you can understand what people prefer by watching what they actually choose to buy.
• Making Society Better: He looked at how to make decisions that improve the well-being of everyone in society.
• Money and Investments: He worked on ideas like the "efficient-market hypothesis," which suggests that stock prices already reflect all available information.
• Government Spending: He studied how governments should decide to spend money on things that benefit everyone, like public parks or roads, compared to private goods.
• International Trade: He helped develop important models that explain how countries trade goods and services with each other.
• Big Picture Economics (Macroeconomics): He studied how the whole economy works, including things like economic growth and how different generations affect the economy over time.
• Market Systems: Samuelson believed that while free markets are good, they aren't perfect. He thought that some government rules and regulations are needed to make markets work best. He disagreed with economists who thought markets should have no rules at all.

His Impact on Economics

Samuelson is seen as one of the founders of "neo-Keynesian economics." This is a modern way of thinking about economics that builds on the ideas of John Maynard Keynes. He was also key in creating the "neoclassical synthesis," which combines Keynes's ideas about how the economy works in the short run with older ideas about how markets work in the long run. This combined approach is still very important in economics today.

His Famous Textbook

Samuelson's textbook, Economics: An Introductory Analysis, was very important. It helped introduce the study of "business cycles" (times when the economy grows and shrinks) into economics classes. It was especially important after the Great Depression, which showed how much government spending could help an economy.

This book taught generations of students about economics. It was translated into many languages and inspired many other economics textbooks.

However, the textbook also faced some criticism. Some people thought it was too radical because it supported a "mixed economy" (where both markets and the government play a role). For example, William F. Buckley, Jr. criticized Samuelson's book, saying it was too socialist.

Publications

Samuelson wrote many books and papers. Here are some of his most famous ones:

• Samuelson, Paul A. (1947), Foundations of Economic Analysis, Harvard University Press.
• Samuelson, Paul A. (1948), Economics: An Introductory Analysis, with William D. Nordhaus (since 1985), 2009, 19th ed., McGraw–Hill.

See also

In Spanish: Paul Samuelson para niños

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