Ekonomisti i politika

Još o Samuelsonu

Sa svetlije strane, Samuelson je imao nekoliko nezaboravnih citata. Neke možete naći ovde, mada među njima nisu moja dva omiljena:

Od poslednjih pet recesija ekonomisti su predvideli osam.

Ne interesuje me ko u zemlji donosi zakone, sve dok ja mogu da pišem njene ekonomske udžbenike.

Oba su ustvari dosta ozbiljne hipoteze političke ekonomije.

Opet sa tamnije strane, ne propustite komentar Maria Rizza, austrijskog ekonomiste sa NYU, koji sumira sve što i ja mislim o Samuelsonu i današnjoj ekonomiji uopšte. Na primer:

The problem for Samuelson’s theoretical contributions is that one cannot easily point to any way in which economics is better rather than just different because of them. ... An idea plainly in Adam Smith became a “new idea” because someone was able to oversimplify it and put in mathematics. Economists overestimated their contributions to knowledge because they confused knowledge about the world with refinements in theory. The fact that Keynes and Hayek became so relevant (once again) to current events and policy made clear, I believe, that refinements of theory were of limited value in understanding the world.