Foundations of Economic Analysis

About “Foundations of Economic Analysis”

Foundations of Economic Analysis is a non-fiction work by Paul A. Samuelson, published in 1947 by Harvard University Press. Based on his 1941 doctoral dissertation at Harvard University, the book aimed to show a common mathematical structure across different areas of economics. It relied on two core principles: the maximizing behavior of economic agents and the stability of economic equilibrium. The book made contributions to index numbers and welfare economics. It is most recognized for formalizing the comparative statics method, which calculates how changes in parameters affect economic systems. A key idea in the book, the correspondence principle, suggests that equilibrium stability leads to testable predictions about how equilibrium changes with parameter shifts. (Summary adapted from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.)