Abstract
This memoir provides information about Paul A. Samuelson’s ideas on the history of economic thought that is not to be found in published documents. That is done in two ways. First, the memoir presents pertinent extracts from correspondence between Samuelson and me, and from some of the notes I made of our telephone conversations. Samuelson’s communications are of interest because they have analytical content, are enriched by perceptive commentaries and interesting facts, and have a freshness, spontaneity, and frankness of expression that derive from the circumstance that they were created in the intimacy of discourse with a friend. Second, the memoir presents the list of Samuelson’s essays on the history of economic thought that he preferred, circa 2000–2003, to be reprinted in a dedicated volume, and some discussions related to the process of choosing those essays.
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Notes
- 1.
The letters to me from Samuelson are documented by the date of his letter, without writing “PAS to DAW.” When my letters to him are quoted or cited, they are referenced as “DAW to PAS” followed by their date. I have not changed the wording of the letters in any way and have not annotated them except in some instances in which the text demands a reference. Italics and underlines are those that are in the original documents. The readers for whom this memoir is intended will know the first names of the persons mentioned, and inserting dozens of bibliographical citations and biographical facts about the persons to whom Samuelson referred are also unnecessary given its readership and informal nature, and would make it unacceptably long. Samuelson’s letters and copies of mine are in my possession; my letters and copies of Samuelson’s are in the Duke University David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library.
- 2.
See Samuelson (1974).
- 3.
Published in 1962 as referenced in Sect. 4.
- 4.
Referenced in Sect. 4.
- 5.
In a draft of an essay edited by me and attached to DAW to PAS, 14 August 1992.
- 6.
Referenced in Sect. 4.
- 7.
The sentence appears in brackets in the letter. Keynes reported the joke this way: “Francis is a charming fellow, but you must be careful with Ysidro.”
- 8.
Referenced in Sect. 4.
- 9.
From an undated typescript that Samuelson sent to me that became Samuelson (1998).
- 10.
Actually, I had mentioned Piccard’s contribution in 1990. See below.
- 11.
See Debreu (1951: 273, 278, 282, 286). I asked Debreu about this and he agreed—he could not have done otherwise—with my account of his article. Incidentally, for those who are concerned about the accent on his first name, he told me that he used it only in “contextes francophones.”
- 12.
As I documented in a letter to Arrow, there are a number of authors, such as Kenneth Boulding and Ragnar Frisch, who used terms similar to Myint’s in the early 1950s (Walker to Arrow, 15 September 1991).
- 13.
As far as I can determine, the published use of the term “super-auctioneer” was first made by Kenneth Arrow and Frank Hahn in their General Competitive Analysis (Arrow and Hahn 1971: for example 269, 310–314, 324–325, 329). They did not attribute it to Walras and disclaimed using the word “tatonnement” in the way that he did.
- 14.
See, for example, Walker (1996).
- 15.
Walker (1999).
- 16.
- 17.
See Cassel (1899).
- 18.
I had responded to an invitation to write an essay on an American contribution to economic theory. Just like Samuelson, I had been Chamberlin’s student and also knew him well personally, and so felt able to accept the assignment. See Walker (1989).
- 19.
Samuelson’s “(sic).”
- 20.
In that same year, I nominated Samuelson for the award of Distinguished Fellow of the History of Economics Society, with supporting documentation, but the proposal was rejected by the Executive Committee of the Society.
- 21.
- 22.
- 23.
The organization of volume 6 (2011), devoted to the history of economic thought, was “worked out with Professor Samuelson” with the aid of Janice Murray (Murray to DAW, 18 July 2000) and was edited by her.
- 24.
- 25.
I am grateful that I was able to do so publicly in Samuelson’s presence in my homage delivered to the audience at the History of Economics Society meeting on 20 June 1987, to graduating economics majors at my University on 15 May 1993, to the assembled university community on the occasion of Paul’s receipt of a Doctorate of Humane Letters on that same date, and to the audience celebrating his ninetieth birthday on 15 May 2005.
References
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Cassel, K.G. (1899) “Grundriss einer Elementaren Preislehre,” Zeitschrift für die Gesamie Staatswissenschaf, 55: 395–458.
Debreu, G. (1951) “The Coefficient of Resource Utilization,” Econometrica, 19: 273–292.
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Samuelson, P.A. (1962) “Parable and Realism in Capital Theory: The Surrogate Production Function,” Review of Economic Studies, 29: 193–206.
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Samuelson, P.A. (1974) “Complementarity: An Essay on the 40th Anniversary of the Hicks-Allen Revolution in Demand Theory,” Journal of Economic Literature, 12: 1255–1289.
Samuelson, P.A. (1998) “Samuelson, Paul Anthony, as an Interpreter of the Classical Economists,” Chapter 146 in H.D. Kurz and N. Salvadori (eds.) The Elgar Companion to Classical Economics, Volume 2. Cheltenham, UK, Edward Elgar: 329–333.
Samuelson, P.A. (1999) “Sherlock Holmes and the Swarthy German: The Case of Inanely ‘Transforming’ Mehrwert to Prices,” in M.M.G. Fase, W. Kanning and D.A. Walker (eds.) Economics, Welfare Policy and the History of Economic Thought: Essays in Honour of Arnold Heertje. Cheltenham, UK and Northampton, MA, Edward Elgar: 345–363.
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Walker, D.A. (1999) “Some Comments on Léon Walras’s Health and Productivity,” Journal of the History of Economic Thought, 21: 437–448.
Walker, D.A. (2003) “Early General Equilibrium Economics: Walras, Pareto, and Cassel,” in W.J. Samuels, J.E. Biddle and J.B. Davis (eds.) A Companion to the History of Economic Thought. Malden, MA, Blackwell: 278–293.
Walker, D.A. (2006) Walrasian Economics. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.
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Walker, D.A. (2019). Some Correspondence with Paul Samuelson on the History of Economic Thought: An Intimate Memoir. In: Cord, R., Anderson, R., Barnett, W. (eds) Paul Samuelson. Remaking Economics: Eminent Post-War Economists. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-56812-0_7
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