Paul Samuelson as a “Keynesian” Economist

Abstract This chapter traces the development of Keynesian economics in the US from the early days. Although Keynesian economics came into the US in fragments, Samuelson views it as a unifying principle. One of Samuelson's first attempts in Keynesian economics is the simple mathematical formulation expressed as GDP, in terms of consumption and investment, consumption as dependent on income, and investment as fixed. This chapter characterizes the development of Paul Samuelson as a Keynesian economist and appraises the econometric foundation of Keynesian economics. Samuelson was able to expand and articulate the Keynesian paradigm, through a connection to equilibrium analysis of the demand and supply type. The stage for estimating aggregate models was then set and the author of this chapter was a pioneer in the specification and estimation of the Keynesian model.