Paul A. Samuelson Won 1970 Nobel Prize for Formalizing Economic Theory

Paul A. Samuelson, a member of the NBER Board of Directors, won the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences in 1970 for clarifying the language of economics by applying mathematics to questions of static and dynamic equilibrium, developing economic theory, and raising the level of economic analysis.

In the prize citation, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said that “more than any other contemporary economist, he has contributed to raising the general analytical and methodological level in economic science. He has in fact simply rewritten considerable parts of economic theory.” Samuelson was the first American to be awarded the prize and the third prize winner. Jan Tinbergen and Ragnar Frisch shared the first prize, awarded in 1969. At the time of the award, Samuelson was Institute Professor at MIT.

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