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  3. Journal of Economic Perspectives
  4. Summer 1989
  5. Robert Solow: An Affectionate Portrait

Journal of Economic Perspectives

ISSN 0895-3309 (Print) | ISSN 1944-7965 (Online)

Robert Solow: An Affectionate Portrait

  • Paul A. Samuelson
Journal of Economic Perspectives
vol. 3, no. 3, Summer 1989
(pp. 91–97)
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Abstract

Solow is the consummate economist's economist. He does everything well and with apparent ease. What Ty Cobb was to baseball, Solow has been to our generation of economists. But with this difference: Cobb had a will to win that never let up. Solow acts as if he has nothing to prove. As an anthropologist who has spent a long lifetime observing achieving scholars and scientists, I can report how rare this relaxed approach is and how great must be the natural abilities of anyone with it who nevertheless attains the highest rung of the ladder.

Citation

Samuelson, Paul A. 1989. "Robert Solow: An Affectionate Portrait." Journal of Economic Perspectives 3 (3): 91–97. DOI: 10.1257/jep.3.3.91

JEL Classification

  • 032 History of Economic Thought--Individuals