CONTENTS

List of Figures vii

List of Tables ix

Preface and Acknowledgments xi

Introduction: Paul Samuelson and Modern Economics xix

part ³ The Early Years, 1915—1935

1 Childhood 3

2 The University of Chicago, 1932 22

3 Natural and Social Sciences, 1932—1933 36

4 Social Scientist to Mathematical Economist, 1933^-1934 59

5 Economics at Chicago, 1932—1935 78

part ¿¿ The Harvard Years, 1935—1940

6 First Term at Harvard, Autumn 1935 103

7 Joseph Alois Schumpeter 132

8 Edwin Bidwell Wilson 149

9 Making Connections 164

10 Simplifying Economic Theory 193

11 Collaboration 218

Alvin Harvey Hansen 234

Hansen's Disciple 255

The Observational Significance of

Economic Theory 273

Leaving Harvard 294

MIT, War, Foundations, and the Textbook, 1940-1948

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology 317

Statistics 340

Developing the New Economics, I: Theory,

1940-1943 354

Hansen and the National Resources Planning

Board, 1941-1943 382

Developing the New Economics, II: Policy,

¹94^2-1943 414

Scientists and Science Policy, 1944-1945 432

Foundations of Economic Analysis, 1940—1947 452

Postwar Economic Policy, 1944—1947 479

Keynes and Keynesian Economics 516

Drafting the Textbook, 1945 532

Controversy over the Textbook, 1947—1948 557

Economics, the First Edition, 1948 576

Commitment to MIT 597

The Young Samuelson 614

List of Reference Abbreviations and Sources 631

Endnotes 633

References 697

Index 725

vι

LIST OF FIGURES

3.1 Knight's “Wheel of Wealth” 54

9.1 Haberler's substitution curve 173

9.2 Equilibrium between consumption

and production 181

13.1 Income determination—consumption

and investment 265

15.1 Samuelson's letter to Henry Rosovsky 302

16.1 Consumption over time 337

18.1 Income determination—saving

and investment 366

20.1 Consumption and income 415

25.1 Guns or butter? 541

25.2 Financial statements 544

25.3 Successive drafts ofthe textbook, 1945—1948 555

27.1 Two definitions of income 577

27.2 Investment and the flow of income 578

LIST OF TABLES

4.³ Final Year Program, 1934—35 7¹

16. ³ Teaching Commitments Listed in MIT

Course Catalogue 325

23.1 A Debate About Easy Money 498