''Economics'' is an introductory textbook by American economists

Paul Samuelson Paul Anthony Samuelson (May 15, 1915 – December 13, 2009) was an American economist who was the first American to win the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences. When awarding the prize in 1970, the Swedish Royal Academies stated that he "h ...

and

William Nordhaus William Dawbney Nordhaus (born May 31, 1941) is an American economist, a Sterling Professor of Economics at Yale University, best known for his work in economic modeling and climate change, and one of the 2 recipients of the 2018 Nobel Memoria ...

. The textbook was first published in 1948, and has appeared in nineteen different editions, the most recent in 2009. It was the best selling

economics Economics () is the social science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and intera ...

textbook for many decades and still remains popular, selling over 300,000 copies of each edition from 1961 through 1976. The book has been translated into forty-one languages and in total has sold over four million copies. ''Economics'' was written entirely by Samuelson until the 12th edition (2001). Newer editions have been revised with others, including Nordhaus for the 17th edition (2001) and afterwards.

Influence

''Economics'' has been called a "canonical textbook", and the development of mainstream economic thought has been traced by comparing the fourteen editions under Samuelson's editing. ''Economics'' coined the term "

neoclassical synthesis The neoclassical synthesis (NCS), neoclassical–Keynesian synthesis, or just neo-Keynesianism was a neoclassical economics academic movement and paradigm in economics that worked towards reconciling the macroeconomic thought of John Maynard Key ...

" and popularized the concept, bringing a mix of

neoclassical economics Neoclassical economics is an approach to economics in which the production, consumption and valuation (pricing) of goods and services are observed as driven by the supply and demand model. According to this line of thought, the value of a good ...

and

Keynesian economics Keynesian economics ( ; sometimes Keynesianism, named after British economist John Maynard Keynes) are the various macroeconomic theories and models of how aggregate demand (total spending in the economy) strongly influences economic output an ...

and helping make this the leading school in

mainstream economics Mainstream economics is the body of knowledge, theories, and models of economics, as taught by universities worldwide, that are generally accepted by economists as a basis for discussion. Also known as orthodox economics, it can be contrasted to h ...

in the United States and globally in the second half of the 20th century. It popularized the term ''

paradox of thrift The paradox of thrift (or paradox of saving) is a paradox of economics. The paradox states that an increase in autonomous saving leads to a decrease in aggregate demand and thus a decrease in gross output which will in turn lower ''total'' saving ...

,'' and attributed the concept to Keynes, though

Keynes John Maynard Keynes, 1st Baron Keynes, ( ; 5 June 1883 – 21 April 1946), was an English economist whose ideas fundamentally changed the theory and practice of macroeconomics and the economic policies of governments. Originally trained in m ...

himself attributed it to earlier authors, and forms of the concept date to antiquity. The 1958 text introduced a "family tree of economics", which by the 20th century consisted of only two groupings, "socialism", listing

Marx Karl Heinrich Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, economist, historian, sociologist, political theorist, journalist, critic of political economy, and socialist revolutionary. His best-known titles are the 1848 p ...

and

Lenin Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov. ( 1870 – 21 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin,. was a Russian revolutionary, politician, and political theorist. He served as the first and founding head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 to 19 ...

, and the "neo-classical synthesis", listing

Marshall Marshall may refer to: Places Australia * Marshall, Victoria, a suburb of Geelong, Victoria Canada * Marshall, Saskatchewan * The Marshall, a mountain in British Columbia Liberia * Marshall, Liberia Marshall Islands * Marshall Islands, an i ...

and Keynes. This paralleled the then-extant

Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...

economies of Soviet

communism Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

and American

capitalism Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their operation for Profit (economics), profit. Central characteristics of capitalism include capital accumulation, competitive markets, pric ...

. This advanced a simplified view of the vying

schools of economic thought In the history of economic thought, a school of economic thought is a group of economics, economic thinkers who share or shared a common perspective on the way economy, economies work. While economists do not always fit into particular schools, pa ...

, subsuming schools which considered themselves distinct, and today many within and without economics equate "economics" with "neo-classical economics", following Samuelson. Later editions provided expanded coverage of other schools, such as the

Austrian school The Austrian School is a heterodox school of economic thought that advocates strict adherence to methodological individualism, the concept that social phenomena result exclusively from the motivations and actions of individuals. Austrian school ...

Institutionalism Institutionalism may refer to: * Institutional theory, an approach to the study of politics that focuses on formal institutions of government * New institutionalism, a social theory that focuses on developing a sociological view of institutions, the ...

, and

Marxian economics Marxian economics, or the Marxian school of economics, is a Heterodox economics, heterodox school of political economic thought. Its foundations can be traced back to Karl Marx, Karl Marx's Critique of political economy#Marx's critique of politic ...

Reception

''Economics'' was the second Keynesian textbook in the United States, following the 1947 ''The Elements of Economics,'' by

Lorie Tarshis Lorie Tarshis (22 March 1911 – 4 October 1993) was a Canadians, Canadian economist who taught mostly at Stanford University. He is credited with writing the first introductory textbook that brought Keynesian thinking into American university cl ...

. Like Tarshis's work, ''Economics'' was attacked by American conservatives (as part of the

Second Red Scare McCarthyism is the practice of making false or unfounded accusations of subversion and treason, especially when related to anarchism, communism and socialism, and especially when done in a public and attention-grabbing manner. The term origina ...

, or

McCarthyism McCarthyism is the practice of making false or unfounded accusations of subversion and treason, especially when related to anarchism, communism and socialism, and especially when done in a public and attention-grabbing manner. The term origin ...

), universities that adopted it were subject to "conservative business pressuring", and Samuelson was accused of

Communism Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

. Nonetheless, ''Economics'' proved successful and remained widely adopted. The success of Samuelson's text, compared with Tarshis's, which was subject to more "virulen attacks, is attributed to various factors, notably Samuelson's dispassionate, scientific style, in contrast to Tarshis's more engaged style, and subsequent texts have followed Samuelson's style. Accusations by conservatives of communist sympathies in ''Economics'' continued into the 1980s.

Influence

Reception

See also

References

Further reading