Economist Paul Samuelson, who won a Nobel prize for his effort to bring mathematical analysis into economics, helped shape tax policy in the Kennedy administration and wrote a textbook read by millions of college students, died Sunday. He was 94.
Samuelson, who taught for decades at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, died at his home in Belmont, Mass., the school said in a statement.
In 1970, Samuelson became just the second person, and first American, to win the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences.
The award citation said Samuelson “has done more than any other contemporary economist to raise the level of scientific analysis in economic theory.”
He gained wide notice in the field in 1947 for his book “Foundations of Economic Analysis.”
Samuelson was among a circle of advisers who led Kennedy to recommend the historic income tax cut that Congress eventually passed in early 1964, three months after the president was assassinated. The cut was widely credited with helping foster the 1960s economic boom.
College students have been reading “Economics” since the late 1940s.
Associated Press
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