Economics: The Original 1948 Edition

Rating:
Summary: Still the best introduction to the principles of economics
Review: Samuelson's Economics is simply the best book available for any individual attempting to obtain an understanding of basic economics.Chapter 2 of the first edition lays out the foundation for an understanding of the different schools of macroeconomics by examining the micro foundation of macroeconomics-the production possibilities frontier(PPF) model.In this path breaking book,Samuelson called the PPF by its other name,the transformation curve.Chapter 11 then ties the student's knowledge of the PPF directly to the problem of insufficient(or too much)investment spending over time.Samuelson ,like Keynes,identifies the intertemporal problem of optimal investment expenditure as THE fundamental problem of all capitalist economies.The extreme volatility and unpredictability of aggregate investment expenditure over the business cycle IS the cause of involuntary unemployment.Samuelson then carefully explains the paradox of thrift in relation to where on the PPF the macroeconomy is operating.If the economy is operating on the boundary of the PPF then the microeconomic optimality conditions of the marginalist calculus,based on the rationality principle of classical and neoclassical economic theory,will reflect resource scarcity.A negative relationship will exist between consumption goods expenditure and investment goods expenditure.Such a smooth tradeoff over time can only mean that investment is NOT volatile and/or unpredictable over time.Private sector investment is as stable and predictable as private consumption spending over time in classical and neoclassical theory .CLASSICAL and NEOCLASSICAL economics is the study of economies operating,with minor inventory flucuations over time,primarily on the boundary of the PPF.This is a special theory that is contained in the Keynesian(neokeynesian)general theory that includes the usual case of the private sector operating IN THE INTERIOR of the PPF.In the interior of the PPF,the optimality conditions of neoclassical economics break down and fail to hold.IN THE INTERIOR the relationship between consumption goods and investment goods is positive,not negative.More savings does not lead to more investment but to less investment as businessmen cut back on the use of their capital stock in the face of decreasing current sales(and decreasing future expected sales)and rising inventories of unsold stocks of goods.This leads to further declines in the capacity utilization rate of the capital stock.The economy moves deeper into the interior of the PPF.More and more individuals are involuntarily laid off.The fall in incomes then negatively impacts consumption goods spending .A cumulative negative downward spiral,deeper and deeper into the interior of the PPF,LEADS TO MORE AND MORE UNEMPLOYMENT.This view of the business cycle is the opposite of the neoclassical view that the problem is naturally self correcting as business inventories adjust over time.It emphasizes the unadjustability of a fixed capital stock. Samuelson's solution,like Keynes's,is for the public sector to provide an offset to decreasing levels of private investment spending by increased public infrastructure spending.The multiplier process will then lead to increasing incomes ,creating expectations of future profits for businessmen.Private investment will increase,moving the economy back to a position on the boundary of the PPF.Neoclassical economics would then be operational.In summary,no other principles book(or intermediate or graduate level textbook)has ever said it better than Samuelson.Master this book and you will know economics.

Rating:
Summary: Highly recommended to haters of this dreary subject.
Review: Absolutely easy to read and understand! I never thought I could actually "enjoy" reading about the subject before I came across this book.

Rating:
Summary: Highly recommended to haters of this dreary subject.
Review: I was amazed to discover how good the original edition of Samuelson's classic economics text is. Virtually everything in it is just as relevant today as it was in 1948. Of special interest to me was chapter 10, Personal Finance and Social Security, for the light it sheds on the current debate about retirement income security. I think Samuelson ECONOMICS 1 ed. would be my textbook of choice for a course in introductory economics.

Rating:
Summary: The original edition is much better than the one I studied.
Review: I was amazed to discover how good the original edition of Samuelson's classic economics text is. Virtually everything in it is just as relevant today as it was in 1948. Of special interest to me was chapter 10, Personal Finance and Social Security, for the light it sheds on the current debate about retirement income security. I think Samuelson ECONOMICS 1 ed. would be my textbook of choice for a course in introductory economics.

Rating:
Summary: Liberal economics
Review: Mr. Samuelson is most undeniably a great economist, and a great liberal, but from the distant past. As a textbook writer I find him very poor; even irrelevant. He has a way of presenting the subject in a technical/mathmatical way that leaves the reader no better off at all at understanding and discussing the basic economic issues of the day. Besides that he was a remarkably biased teacher/textbook writer. He will perhaps go down in history as the man who said that Russia was a great example of how well a planned economy can perform (even though it really just impoverished its citizens) and that Milton Freidman's work was mistaken (even though it finally became intellectually dominant and was used by the Fed to create the current economic miracle). If you had a choice to spend two semesters plowing through Samuelson or a weekend reading "Capitalism and Freedom" or "Understanding The Difference Between Democrats and Republicans" you'd be wise to pick the later. You'd learn 10 times as much in a fraction the time.

Rating:
Summary: Liberal economics
Review: Mr. Samuelson is most undeniably a great economist, and a great liberal, but from the distant past. As a textbook writer I find him very poor; even irrelevant. He has a way of presenting the subject in a technical/mathmatical way that leaves the reader no better off at all at understanding and discussing the basic economic issues of the day. Besides that he was a remarkably biased teacher/textbook writer. He will perhaps go down in history as the man who said that Russia was a great example of how well a planned economy can perform (even though it really just impoverished its citizens) and that Milton Freidman's work was mistaken (even though it finally became intellectually dominant and was used by the Fed to create the current economic miracle). If you had a choice to spend two semesters plowing through Samuelson or a weekend reading "Capitalism and Freedom" or "Understanding The Difference Between Democrats and Republicans" you'd be wise to pick the later. You'd learn 10 times as much in a fraction the time.