I think economics - and this is what I've tried to impart - has a tremendous amount of human interest in it.
Interpretation
Economics is deeply connected to human experiences and societal interactions.
In this quote, Paul Samuelson emphasizes that economics is not merely a dry study of numbers and models, but rather a discipline rich with human stories and interactions. Understanding economics involves recognizing its impact on people's lives, decisions, and the society at large, thereby highlighting the human interest intricately woven into economic theories and practices.
In practice
In a speech on economic policy, you could quote Samuelson to emphasize the human impact of economic theories.
To a person of analytical ability, perceptive enough to realise that mathematical equipment was a powerful sword in economics, the world of economics was his or her oyster in 1935. The terrain was strewn with beautiful theorems begging to be picked up and arranged in unified order.
I can't think of a president who has been overburdened by a knowledge of economics.
My belief is that nothing that can be expressed by mathematics cannot be expressed by careful use of literary words.
Politicians like to tell people what they want to hear - and what they want to hear is what won't happen.
My family was well off but not rich. I spent the four years I was an undergraduate working on the beach. And it wasn't because I was lazy; it was because my freshman class would go to a hundred different employers and wouldn't get a nibble. That was a disequilibrium system. I realized that the ordinary old-fashioned Euclidean geometry didn't apply.
Economics has never been a science - and it is even less now than a few years ago.
There are only three ways by which any individual can get wealth β by work, by gift or by theft. And, clearly, the reason why the workers get so little is that the beggars and thieves get so much.
Sector-specific price declines, uncomfortable as they may be for producers in that sector, are generally not a problem for the economy as a whole and do not constitute deflation.
All systems are capitalist. It's just a matter of who owns and controls the capital -- ancient king, dictator, or private individual. We should properly be looking at the contrast between a free market system where individuals have the right to live like kings if they have the ability to earn that right and government control of the market system such as we find today in socialist nations.
Significantly opening up immigration to skilled workers solves two problems. The companies could hire the educated workers they need. And those workers would compete with high-income people, driving more income equality.
The only way that has ever been discovered to have a lot of people cooperate together voluntarily is through the free market. And that's why it's so essential to preserving individual freedom.
People stop buying things, and that is how you turn a slowdown into a recession.
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