I can't think of a president who has been overburdened by a knowledge of economics.
Paul SamuelsonRead
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.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Understanding mathematics can unlock tremendous opportunities in the field of economics.
In this quote, Paul Samuelson emphasizes the importance of analytical thinking and mathematical prowess in the realm of economics. He suggests that for individuals who possess these skills, the study of economics in 1935 offered abundant opportunities as it was rich with theoretical concepts waiting to be explored and organized.
Themes
EconomicsMathematicsTheoremsAnalysisOpportunity
In practice
Example use cases
A university lecturer could use this quote to inspire students in an economics class.
More from Paul Samuelson
All quotes →My belief is that nothing that can be expressed by mathematics cannot be expressed by careful use of literary words.
Paul SamuelsonRead
Politicians like to tell people what they want to hear - and what they want to hear is what won't happen.
Paul SamuelsonRead
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.
Paul SamuelsonRead
Economics has never been a science - and it is even less now than a few years ago.
Paul SamuelsonRead
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.
Paul SamuelsonRead
Similar quotes
If they are too big to fail, make them smaller.
George P. ShultzRead
All taxes, except a 'lump-sum tax,' introduce distortions in the economy. But no government can impose a lump-sum tax - the same amount for everyone regardless of their income or expenditures - because it would fall heaviest on those with less income, and it would grind the poor, who might be unable to pay it at all.
Robert J. ShillerRead
We can no longer prosper by increasing human productivity. The more we try to do, the more poverty we will create.
Paul HawkenRead
The interests of the IMF represent the big international interests that today seem to be established and concentrated in Wall Street.
Che GuevaraRead
The recurrence of periods of depression and mass unemployment has discredited capitalism in the opinion of injudicious people. Yet these events are not the outcome of the operation of the free market. They are on the contrary the result of well-intentioned but ill-advised government interference with the market.
Ludwig Von MisesRead
No pecuniary consideration is more urgent, than the regular redemption and discharge of the public debt: on none can delay be more injurious, or an economy of time more valuable.
George WashingtonRead