World-Renowned Economists and Their Contributions

AMARTYA SEN

Amartya Kumar Sen is an Indian Economist born on 3rd November 1933 in Santiniketan, India. Mr. Sen studied at Presidency College and Calcutta and then completed his higher degree from Trinity College in Cambridge.

Mr. Sen has made contributions to welfare economics, social choice economics, economic theories of famines, decision theory, development economics etc. 

Amartya Kumar Sen was awarded the 1998 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences for his contributions to welfare economics and social choice theory and for his interest in society’s poorest members.

Mr. Sen developed an economic theory ”Capability Approach” which entails two core normative claims;

  1. The freedom to achieve well-being is of primary moral importance.
  2. The freedom to achieve well-being is to be understood in terms of people’s capabilities, i.e., their real opportunities to do and be what they have reason to value.

PAUL ANTHONY SAMUELSON



Paul Samuelson was an American Economist born on 15th May 1915 in Gary, Indiana, U.S. Samuelson had degrees from the University of Chicago (B.A.) and Harvard University (Ph. D.). Paul Samuelson has contributed significantly to the mathematical foundations of economics.

Mr. Saluelson contributed to a diverse field of economics. He contributed to the stability of the economic system, international trade theories, capital theories, welfare economics and public goods and expenditure concepts, etc.

Paul Samuelson is the first American to win the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences in 1970. Mr. Samuelson was credited with transforming economics by developing and popularizing neo-Keynesian mathematical macroeconomics. Mr. Samuelson had contributed to nearly all branches of economic theory.

Paul Samuelson has offered a theory “Revealed Preference” in 1938 which states that consumer behavior if their income and the item’s price are held constant, is the best indicator of their preferences. This theory works on the assumption that all the customers are rational. The theory entails that if a consumer purchases a specific bundle of goods, then that bundle is “revealed preferred,” given constant income and prices, to any other bundle that the consumer could afford. By varying income or prices or both, an observer can infer a representative model of the consumer’s preferences.

JOAN ROBINSON

Joan Violet Robinson was a British Economist born on 31st October 1903 in Camberley, England. Joan studied economics at the University of Cambridge in 1925 and she taught at Cambridge as a professor from 1931 to 1971. 

Robinson was never awarded the Nobel Prize for Economics, but her contribution to economic study is well recognized by the world economic study society.

Joan Robinson has a notable contribution to economics in the field of understanding of Imperfect Competition. Joan Robinson is also recognized for her “ Model of Economic Growth”, also known as “Capital Accumulation Model of Growth”. Robinson’s Model of Growth considers the influence of a growing population on the role of capital accumulation and growth of output. The model of growth has two fundamental propositions:

  1. The formation of capital depends on the manner of Income Distribution.
  2. The rate at which labor is utilized depends upon the supply of capital and that of labor.

Joan Robinson, in her model, considered several determinants which contribute to economic growth:

  1. Thriftiness Condition: Determination of household for savings.
  2. Technical Condition: Number and quality of labor and its growth and technical knowledge.
  3. Wage Bargain: Determination of money wage
  4. Market Conditions: Imperfect market conditions
  5. Investment Policy: Investment Decisions by Firms
  6. Finance: Financial Institutions, interest rate determination, and monetary policy.

References

Britannica

EconomicsDiscussion

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