Paul Samuelson
Paul Anthony Samuelson ( born May 15, 1915 in Gary, Indiana, † December 13, 2009 in Belmont, Massachusetts) was an American economist and winner of the Prize for Economics in the Bank of Sweden in memory of Alfred Nobel in 1970.
Life
His first training attended Paul A. Samuelson at the University of Chicago ( Bachelor of Arts in 1935, Master of Arts 1936), he received the degree of Doctor in 1941 from Harvard University. He was a pupil of Paul Sweezy and Joseph Schumpeter. He has taught mainly at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He was a democrat of Jewish descent and discussed among other things the Adlai Ewing Stevenson U.S. politicians.
Together with Wolfgang F. Stolper Samuelson introduced in 1941, the Stolper - Samuelson theorem on. In Samuelson also returns the Bergson -Samuelson welfare possibility frontier. Likewise, the Lerner - Samuelson theorem and the Balassa -Samuelson effect. He also represented the " efficient market theory ", which states that there is no way to achieve consistently better results than the market average.
"Do I really believe what I have been saying? I would like to believe otherwise. But a respect for evidence compels me to incline toward the hypothesis did most portfolio decision makers shoulderstand go out of business, take up plumbing, teach Greek, or help produce the annual GNP by serving as corporate executives. Even if this advice to drop dead is good advice, it obviously is not counsel thatwill be eagerly Followed. "
" Do I really believe what I said? I would like to believe otherwise. But my respect for scientific evidence compels me to the hypothesis that most portfolio managers go out of business and prefer to start with the plumbing, teach Greek, or should contribute to increase the annual GNP than managers. But even if the Council to fall over dead is a good one, it's obvious no one will be followed diligently. "
The integration of mathematical and statistical methods Samuelson contributed significantly to the scientific recognition of Economics. His published work in 1948 Economics: An Introductory Analysis was one of the most widespread economic textbooks. The New York Times wrote that he had the national economy ", transformed from a discipline that broods over economic issues to a discipline that solves problems and answers questions about cause and effect with mathematical rigor and clarity ."
Samuelson was awarded in 1970 as the first American to win the Prize in Economic Sciences of the Swedish Riksbank. In the justification for awarding the prize stated inter alia:
" Samuelson's contribution is that he has evolved more than any other contemporary economist, the general analytical and methodological level of economics. The fact is that he has rewritten large parts of economic theory. He also demonstrated the fundamental unity of the problem and the analytical techniques in economics. [ ... ] Samuelson's contributions extend over a large bandwidth. "
Samuelson advised several U.S. presidents. However, he turned down an offer from John F. Kennedy on the grounds that he would not accept any position in which he could no longer say and write what he wanted and scientifically think is right. At times, he was a regular advisor to the U.S. Treasury and advisor to the U.S. Federal Reserve.
He caused a sensation in 2004 with the requirement to slow the pace of globalization through policy measures.
Publications (selection )
- Economics. 19th edition, 2009. ISBN 978-0-07-126383-2 (English) Economics. 3rd edition, 2007. ISBN 978-3-636-03112-9 ( German )