Making things technical : Samuelson at MIT

by Harro Maas

This paper examines how Samuelson defined his own role as an economist as a technical expert, who walked what he called "the middle of the road" to - seemingly - stay out of the realm of politics. As point of entry I discuss the highly tempting offers made by Theodore M. Schultz in the 1940s to come over to Chicago, which Schultz persistently repeated over a period of three years and despite strong Chicago faculty resistance. A contrast between Schultz's own experiences as an economic expert at Iowa State, Samuelson's work as an external consultant for the National Resources Planning Board during the Second World War and the firm support of the MIT administration for Samuelson's research, serve to pinpoint the meaning of being technical for Samuelson, and the relation of the technical economic expert to the realm of politics.

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Year of publication:	January 15, 2014
Authors:	Maas, Harro
Publisher:	[Durham, NC] : Center for the History of Political Economy at Duke University
Subject:	technical expertise \| economic modeling \| "middle of the road" economists \| National Resources Planning Board \| MIT \| University of Chicago \| Ökonomische Ideengeschichte \| History of economic thought \| Ökonomen \| Economists \| Politikberatung \| Policy advice

Extent:	1 Online-Ressource (circa 30 Seiten) Illustrationen
Series:	CHOPE working paper. - Durham, NC : [Verlag nicht ermittelbar], ZDB-ID 2672713-4. - Vol. no. 2014, 01 (January 2014)
Type of publication:	Book / Working Paper
Type of publication (narrower categories):	Arbeitspapier ; Working Paper ; Graue Literatur ; Non-commercial literature
Language:	English
Other identifiers:	hdl:10419/149713 [Handle]
Classification:	A11 - Role of Economics; Role of Economists; Market for Economists ; B2 - History of Economic Thought since 1925 ; B31 - Individuals ; B41 - Economic Methodology
Source:	ECONIS - Online Catalogue of the ZBW

Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10011706807