Foundations of Economic Analysis

Foundations of Economic Analysis is a book by Paul A. Samuelson published in 1947 (Enlarged ed., 1983) by Harvard University Press. It sought to demonstrate a common mathematical structure underlying multiple branches of economics from two basic principles: maximizing behavior of agents (such as of utility by consumers and profits by firms) and stability of equilibrium as to economic systems (such as markets or economies). Among other contributions, it advanced the theory of index numbers and generalized welfare economics. It is especially known for definitively stating and formalizing qualitative and quantitative versions of the "comparative statics" method for calculating how a change in any parameter (say, a change in tax rates) affects an economic system. One of its key insights about comparative statics, called the correspondence principle, states that stability of equilibrium implies testable predictions about how the equilibrium changes when parameters are changed.

Read more about Foundations Of Economic Analysis:  Introduction, Topical Outline, Methods and Analysis, Appendices, Enlarged Edition, Assessments

Famous quotes containing the words foundations of, foundations, economic and/or analysis:

    The aggregate of all knowledge has not yet become culture in us. Rather it would seem as if, with the progressive scientific penetration and dissection of reality, the foundations of our thinking grow ever more precarious and unstable.
    Johan Huizinga (1872–1945)

    and the oxen near
    The worn foundations of their resting-place,
    The holy manger where their bed is corn
    And holly torn for Christmas. If they die,
    As Jesus, in the harness, who will mourn?
    Lamb of the shepherds, Child, how still you lie.
    Robert Lowell (1917–1977)

    Society’s double behavioral standard for women and for men is, in fact, a more effective deterrent than economic discrimination because it is more insidious, less tangible. Economic disadvantages involve ascertainable amounts, but the very nature of societal value judgments makes them harder to define, their effects harder to relate.
    Anne Tucker (b. 1945)

    ... the big courageous acts of life are those one never hears of and only suspects from having been through like experience. It takes real courage to do battle in the unspectacular task. We always listen for the applause of our co-workers. He is courageous who plods on, unlettered and unknown.... In the last analysis it is this courage, developing between man and his limitations, that brings success.
    Alice Foote MacDougall (1867–1945)