Robert M. Solow

Frank Hahn

In the early 1980s, rational expectations and new classical economics dominated macroeconomic theory. This essay evolved from theauthors' profound disagreement with that trend. It demonstrates notonly how the new classical view got macroeconomics wrong, but also howto go about doing macroeconomics the right way.

A Critical Essay on Modern Macroeconomic Theory

Capital Theory and the Rate of Return

Paul A. Samuelson

Robert Dorfman

Clear, comprehensive exposition of interrelation of game theory and linear programming, interrelation of linear programming and modern welfare economics, Leontief theory of input-output, problems of dynamic linear programming, more.

Linear Programming and Economic Analysis

Nobel laureate Solow shows how Kenneth J. Arrow's classic paper "The Economic Implications of Learning by Doing" fits into the modern theory of economic growth, and uses it as a springboard for a critical consideration of spectacular recent developments that have made growth theory a dynamic topic today.

Lessons for Economic Growth

Learning from "learning by Doing"

Michael L. Dertouzos

Richard K. Lester

MIT Commission on Industrial Productivity

M.I.T. Commission

The report of the MIT Commission on Industrial Productivity provides a critical look at the recurring weaknesses of American industry and sets forth five national priorities for regaining the productive edge

Regaining the Productive Edge

Made in America

A unique and illuminating portrait of economists and their work Providing illuminating profiles of ninety of the world's most prominent economists--from Nobel Prize winners and former Federal Reserve chairs to young scholars charting the future of the field--this stunning volume pairs full-page portraits by acclaimed photographer Mariana Cook with short essays written by the sitters in response to questions posed by Nobel Laureate Robert M. Solow about their work. Together, the words and photographs offer a unique look into the world of economists and serve as an accessible entry point into the views shaping policy and research decisions by such luminaries as Ben Bernanke, Janet Yellen, Mario Draghi, Steven Levitt, Robert Shiller, Esther Duflo, Paul Krugman, and Susan Athey, among many others.

Economists

Deirdre N. McCloskey

Donald N. McCloskey

Arjo Klamer

The papers in this volume are drawn from a recent conference at Wellesley College for both theoretical and applied economists, which explored the consequences of rhetoric and conversation within the field of economics.

The Consequences of Economic Rhetoric

The Nobel Prize-winning economist Robert Solow directs his attention here to one of today's most controversial social issues: how to get people off welfare and into jobs. With characteristic eloquence, wit, and rigor, Solow condemns the welfare reforms recently passed by Congress and President Clinton for confronting welfare recipients with an unworkable choice--finding work in the current labor market or losing benefits. He argues that the only practical and fair way to move recipients to work is, in contrast, through an ambitious plan to guarantee that every able-bodied citizen has access to a job. Solow contends that the demand implicit in the 1996 Welfare Reform Act for welfare recipients to find work in the existing labor market has two crucial flaws. First, the labor market would not easily make room for a huge influx of unskilled, inexperienced workers. Second, the normal market adjustment to that influx would drive down earnings for those already in low-wage jobs. Solow concludes that it is legitimate to want welfare recipients to work, but not to want them to live at a miserable standard or to benefit at the expense of the working poor, especially since children are often the first to suffer. Instead, he writes, we should create new demand for unskilled labor through public-service employment and incentives to the private sector--in effect, fair "workfare." Solow presents widely ignored evidence that recipients themselves would welcome the chance to work. But he also points out that practical, morally defensible workfare would be extremely expensive--a problem that politicians who support the idea blithely fail to admit. Throughout, Solow places debate over welfare reform in the context of a struggle to balance competing social values, in particular self-reliance and altruism. The book originated in Solow's 1997 Tanner Lectures on Human Values at Princeton University. It includes reactions from the distinguished scholars Gertrude Himmelfarb, Anthony Lewis, Glenn Loury, and John Roemer, who expand on and take issue with Solow's arguments. Work and Welfare is a powerful contribution to debate about welfare reform and a penetrating look at the values that shape its course.

Robert M. Solow

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