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.
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.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects on the challenges faced by students in finding job opportunities despite their background and education.
Paul Samuelson's quote illustrates the difficulties many students encounter when they enter the job market, despite being well-educated. He emphasizes that traditional methods of job searching might not work in a changing economic landscape, where supply and demand do not match up effectively. This statement sheds light on the complexities of employment where even diligent efforts can lead to frustrating outcomes, thus highlighting a misalignment in the job market.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
In a university seminar discussing job readiness, this quote can emphasize the competitive nature of the job market.
More from Paul Samuelson
All quotes →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.
Economics has never been a science - and it is even less now than a few years ago.
There's nothing in Keynesian economics that would allow you to solve stagflation. But there's nothing in neoclassical economics that would allow you to solve stagflation, either.
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