The sixth and seventh volumes of Paul Samuelson's papers gather his final writings.
“It is a measure of Professor Samuelson's preeminence that the sheer scale of his work should be so much taken for granted,” a reviewer for the Economist once observed, marking both Paul Samuelson's influence and his astonishing prolificacy. These two volumes gather the Nobel Laureate's final writings. Samuelson declined suggestions that he write an autobiography. Yet the texts in these volumes (selected by Samuelson with the help of his longtime assistant, Janice Murray) have a somewhat autobiographical cast, with tributes to friends and colleagues and speeches and interviews of both personal and historic interest. Volume 6 offers essays on classical economics; neoclassical, Marxian, and Sraffian economics; modern macroeconomics; welfare and efficiency economics; and economic and scientific theories. Volume 7 covers stochastic theory; modern economic policy; biographical essays; and autobiographical writings. [Revised appendixes accompany Samuelson and Etula's “Where Ricardo and Mill Rebut and Confirm Arguments of Mainstream Economists Supporting Globalization” and a previously unpublished “Afterthought” has been added to Samuelson's Dictionary of American Biography text on Joseph Schumpeter.] Additionally, three contributions omitted from early volumes have been included. The acknowledgements sections list the strict chronological order of the papers. The seven volumes of Samuelson's collected papers document the long and distinguished career of one of America's most important economists.
