Inside the Economist's Mind Conversations with Eminent Economists

by Samuelson, Paul A.; Barnett, William A.

• ISBN13: 9781405157155
• ISBN10: 1405157151
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2006-12-22
• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell

Summary

By focusing on the human side as well as the intellectual dimensions of how economists work and think, this collection of interviews with top economists of the 20th century becomes a startling and lively introduction to the modern world of macroeconomics. A fun read! For more information, frequent updates, and to comment on the forthcoming book, visit William A. Barnett's weblog at http://economistmind.blogspot.com/. Acclaim for Inside the Economist's Mind "In candid interviews, these great economists prove to be fabulous story tellers of their lives and times. Unendingly gripping for insiders, this book should also help non-specialists understand how economists think." Professor Julio Rotemberg, Harvard University Business School, and Editor, Review of Economics and Statistics. "Economics used to be called the 'dismal science'. It will be impossible for anybody to hold that view anymore ... This is science with flesh and blood, and a lot of fascinating stories that you will find nowhere else." Dr. Jean-Pascal B?nassy, Paris-Jourdan Sciences Economiques, Paris, France "This book provides a rare and intriguing view of the personal and professional lives of leading economists ... It is like A Beautiful Mind, scaled by a factor of 16 [the number of interviews in the book]." Professor Lee Ohanian, University of California at Los Angeles " ... if you want an insider view of how economics has been developing in the last decades, this is the (only) book for you." Professor Giancarlo Gandolfo, University of Rome 'La Sapienza,' Rome "Here we see the HUMAN side of path-breaking research, the personalities and pitfalls, the DRAMA behind the science." Professor Francis X. Diebold, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia

Author Biography

Paul A. Samuelson is Professor Emeritus of Economics and Institute Professor Emeritus at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In 1970 he became the first American to win the Nobel Prize in Economics. His landmark 1947 book, Foundations of Economic Analysis, based upon his Ph.D. dissertation at Harvard University, established him as “the economists’ economist” by raising the standards of the entire profession. Paul Samuelson's classic textbook, Economics, first published in 1948, is among the most successful textbooks ever published in the field.

William A. Barnett is Oswald Distinguished Professor of Macroeconomics at the University of Kansas. He is Editor of the monograph series International Symposia in Economic Theory and Econometrics, and Editor of the journal, Macroeconomic Dynamics. He has published 17 books and over 130 articles in professional journals.

Table of Contents

Coeditor's foreword : reflections on how biographies of individual scholars can relate to a science's biography
Coeditor's preface : an overview of the objectives and contents of the volume
History of thought introduction : economists talking with economists, an historian's perspective	p. 1
An interview with Wassily Leontief	p. 15
An interview with David Cass	p. 32
An interview with Robert E. Lucas, Jr.	p. 57
An interview with Janos Kornai	p. 67
An interview with Franco Modigliani	p. 85
An interview with Milton Friedman	p. 110
An interview with Paul A. Samuelson	p. 143
An interview with Paul A. Volcker	p. 165
An interview with Martin Feldstein	p. 192
An interview with Christopher A. Sims	p. 209
An interview with Robert J. Shiller	p. 228
An interview with Stanley Fischer	p. 261
An interview with Jacques Dreze	p. 278
An interview with Thomas J. Sargent	p. 307
An interview with Robert Aumann	p. 327
Conversations with James Tobin and Robert J. Shiller on the "Yale tradition" in macroeconomics	p. 392
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