Paul Anthony Samuelson and his work (on the hundredth anniversary of his birth)

Abstract

Aim: The purpose of this article is an attempt to systematise and evaluate the achievements of the American Nobel laureate in economic sciences and co-founder of ‘neoclassical synthesis’ — P.A. Samuelson.

Motivation: This economist greatly developed the methodology and theory of economics. Preferring the mathematical method in scientific inquiry and introducing new graphic solutions, he contributed to the mathematisation of economics. He enriched the theory of consumption by revealed preferences, devised the 45° line to determine the Keynesian short-term equilibrium in the goods market, as well as the consumer demand, investment demand, and savings function curves, and he also defined collective goods. He completed the theory of division with the modified Lorenz curve, presented the problem of the allocation of scarce resources by the curve of production possibilities, and generalised — together with R.M. Solow — the Phillips curve. In addition, he created a model of the interdependence of the multiplier and accelerator, and developed the theory of foreign trade by the ‘Stolper-Samuelson effect’ and the statement of the impact of prices of production factors on the allocation of resources.

Results: Caring for affordability of the exposition of basic economic knowledge contained in his textbook Economics, he made a revolution in the teaching of economics. Owing to these achievements, P.A. Samuelson earned his inclusion in the circle of the greatest economists of the twentieth century.