Quotessence
Home / Authors / Paul Samuelson Biography
Paul Samuelson

Paul Samuelson Biography

Economist

Related Quotes

“An American economist of two generations ago, H. J. Davenport, who was the best friend Thorstein Veblen ever had (Veblen actually lived for a time in Davenport's coal cellar) once said: "There is no reason why theoretical economics should be a monopoly of the reactionaries." All my life I have tried to take this warning to heart, and I dare call it to your favorable attention.”

ShouldHeartSaidTwoReasonAttentionGenerationsEconomicsDareReason WhyNo ReasonWarningCoalEconomistMonopolyTheoreticalReactionariesCellars
Book:The Collected Scientific Papers of Paul Samuelson, Volume 3
Create image

“Even fans of actively managed funds often concede that most other investors would be better off in index funds. But buoyed by abundant self-confidence, these folks aren't about to give up on actively managed funds themselves. A tad delusional? I think so. Picking the best-performing funds is 'like trying to predict the dice before you roll them down the craps table,' says an investment adviser in Boca Raton, FL. 'I can't do it. The public can't do it.'”

ThinkingGivingTryingI CanSelfWould BeFansGiving UpTablesInvestmentInvestingFolksSelf ConfidencePerformingFundInvestorsCrapBetter OffDiceAdviserDelusionalIndex Funds
Author:Paul Samuelson
Create image

“Still, I figure we shouldn't' discourage fans of actively managed funds. With all their buying and selling, active investors ensure the market is reasonably efficient. That makes it possible for the rest of us to do the sensible thing, which is to index. Want to join me in this parasitic behavior? To build a well-diversified portfolio, you might stash 70 percent of your stock portfolio into a Wilshire 5000-index fund and the remaining 30 percent in an international-index fund.”

WantWellsStillsMightFansFiguresBehaviorPercentInvestingInternationalActiveSellingBuyingFundInvestorsSensibleEfficientDiscouragingPortfoliosBuying And SellingIndex Funds
Author:Paul Samuelson
Create image

“Even if this advice to portfolio decision makers to drop dead is good advice, it obviously is not counsel that will be eagerly followed. Few people will commit suicide without a push. And fewer still will pay good money to be told to do what is against human nature and self-interest to do.”

PeopleIfsHumansStillsSelfInterestDecisionPayAdviceHuman NatureSuicideInvestingCommitMakersFewerSelf InterestGood AdvicePortfoliosGood MoneyDecision Makers
Author:Paul Samuelson
Create image

“The debate can be put in the form of the question: Resolved, that the best of money managers cannot be demonstrated to be able to deliver the goods of superior portfolio-selection performance. Any jury that reviews the evidence, and there is a great deal of relevant evidence, must at least come out with the Scottish verdict: Superior investment performance is unproved.”

AbleFormDealsEvidencePerformancesInvestmentInvestingDebateSuperiorsManagersGoodsReviewsRelevantSelectionJuryScottishVerdictPortfoliosSuperior Performance
Author:Paul Samuelson
Create image

“Second, they [those who disagree with market efficiency] always claim they know a man, a bank, or a fund that does do better. Alas, anecdotes are not science. And once Wharton School dissertations seek to quantify the performers, these have a tendency to evaporate into the air - or, at least, into statistically insignificant t-statistics.”

KnowsMenDoeSchoolAirClaimsInvestingTendenciesFundStatisticsPerformersDisagreeEfficiencyAlasInsignificantAnecdotesDissertationMarket Efficiency
Author:Paul Samuelson
Create image

“Suppose it was demonstrated that one out of twenty alcoholics could learn to become a moderate social drinker. The experienced clinician would answer, 'Even if true, act as if it were false, for you will never identify that one in twenty, and in the attempt five in twenty will be ruined.' Investors should forsake the search for such tiny needles in huge haystacks.”

IfsShouldSocialAnswersFiveHugeTwentiesInvestingTinyInvestorsRuinedModeratesAlcoholicsNeedlesForsakeDrinkersClinicians
Author:Paul Samuelson
Create image

“By keeping labor supply down, immigration policy tends to keep wages high. Let us underline this basic principle: Limitation of the supply of any grade of labor relative to all other productive factors can be expected to raise its wage rate; and increase in supply will, other things being equal, tend to depress wage rates.”

PrinciplesPolicyEqualLaborIncreaseRaisesRateExpectedImmigrationFactorsLimitationGradesProductiveRelativeDepressingWagesBasic PrinciplesBeing EqualImmigration Policy
Author:Paul Samuelson
Create image

“Two factors explain our success. One, MIT's renaissance after World War II as a federally supported research resource. Two, the mathematical revolution in macro- and micro-economic theory and statistics. This was overdue and inevitable, MIT was the logical place for it to flourish.”

WorldTwoWarEconomicTheoryRevolutionResearchResourcesFactorsMathematicalInevitableWar Of The WorldsLogicalStatisticsWorld War IiWorld War IRenaissanceOverdueMitMacroEconomic Theory
Author:Paul Samuelson
Create image