What is the role of a basic economics textbook? (1)

Thousands of students throughout the world will begin an introductory economics course in their first year. They will probably use only one textbook. For most, that one course will be their only brush with the dismal science. That is why basic economics textbooks are enormously influential. One, in particular, has been extraordinarily so: Paul Samuelson’s “Economics”, first published in 1948, has taught at least two generations of Americans (and many others) all they know about the subject.

As well as influence, textbooks can also bring their authors riches. Gregory Mankiw, an economist at Harvard University, was paid an advance of $1.4m for a basic textbook*, out this month, that has been hyped as “the new Samuelson”.

Fortunately, this claim is only half true. Like Mr Samuelson’s book in its day, Mr Mankiw’s book sets a new standard of clarity and liveliness. Like almost all modern texts, it uses many of the basic analytical tools developed by Mr Samuelson. But Mr Mankiw’s aim, unlike Mr Samuelson’s, is to elucidate rather than advocate. This is a big difference.

It is difficult to exaggerate the worldwide impact of Mr Samuelson’s “Economics”. Its 15 editions have sold more than 4m copies and it has been translated into 41 languages. Though its popularity has waned somewhat in recent years, many millions of people learned their economics from the textbook’s lively prose—and, in recent editions, from the joint authorship of Mr Samuelson and William Nordhaus, an economist at Yale University. (The latest, published by McGraw Hill in 1995, costs $67.)

The book has great strengths. In microeconomics in particular, the pedagogy Mr Samuelson developed—diagrams of supply and demand, or cost curves, for instance—still set the discipline’s standard. More problematic is his approach to macroeconomics (a term, incidentally, that was barely in use in 1948, and did not appear in the first edition of the book).

Although Mr Samuelson claimed that he had no great message to impart in his first textbook, he was actually introducing, explaining and advocating the then-revolutionary economics of John Maynard Keynes. Hence the book reflected a belief in the need for active government and scepticism about market outcomes. Although it has evolved enormously over 15 editions, that tone remains.

References:

* “Principles of Economics”. Dryden Press, 1997.

† “The Perseverance of Paul Samuelson’s Economics”. Journal of Economic Perspectives, Spring 1997