Comments on: The Samuelson Story http://www.arnoldkling.com/blog/the-samuelson-story/ taking the most charitable view of those who disagree Mon, 21 Dec 2020 11:09:54 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=4.0.32 By: Andrew' http://www.arnoldkling.com/blog/the-samuelson-story/#comment-473560 Mon, 05 Jun 2017 19:01:18 +0000 http://www.arnoldkling.com/blog/?p=8876#comment-473560 Wow, very in depth.

]]> By: Adam http://www.arnoldkling.com/blog/the-samuelson-story/#comment-473555 Mon, 05 Jun 2017 14:38:31 +0000 http://www.arnoldkling.com/blog/?p=8876#comment-473555 Related: the divide between Austrian econ models of entrepreneurship as the creative making of possibilities, and neoclassical econ models of entrepreneurship as simply submerged in the characteristics of the situation https://sweettalkconversation.com/2016/05/29/how-the-entrepreneur-creates-and-is-created/

]]> By: Matthew Gelfand http://www.arnoldkling.com/blog/the-samuelson-story/#comment-473554 Mon, 05 Jun 2017 13:56:25 +0000 http://www.arnoldkling.com/blog/?p=8876#comment-473554 Thoughtful and thought provoking, as always, Arnold. I would give more credit to Samuelson than you suggest, however. One part of his “Foundations” translated Keynes into mathematical terms, which supported a more thorough vetting of Keynes’s work early on. (Although perhaps Hicks said all that needed saying. I shall have to re-read his book.) In addition, another part of Samuelson’s Foundations works out the entire model of consumer choice under neoclassical assumptions, which I thought was quite elegant if only a partial model. All the rest of consumer theory the profession has written since then has been generalizing the model to more general non-classical assumptions and the implications of those more realistic situations. While Samuelson may have been too “mathy,” as we call it now, his math did help to identify many counter-intuitive findings in the theory of international trade, the randomness of market equilibrium (efficient market hypothesis) and other subject areas.

]]> By: B.B. http://www.arnoldkling.com/blog/the-samuelson-story/#comment-473553 Mon, 05 Jun 2017 13:04:54 +0000 http://www.arnoldkling.com/blog/?p=8876#comment-473553 I do believe the overlapping generations model was a major conceptual breakthrough. It may seem obvious in retrospect; great ideas often do.

He was a pioneer in the underpinnings of the efficient market hypothesis, and the economics of speculation. He revolutionize finance.

His insight about how much economics can be understood as constrained maximization or minimization still seems valid.

Macro was never his strong point.

Math is just a language. One can say nonsense in math, just like one can say nonsense in French. That is not a criticism of French, or math. I find ideologues who spout nonsensical theories are often hostile toward mathematical rigor because rigor exposes their humbug. “Supply side economics” is one example.

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