My favourite economist Paul Samuelson died today.

He’s my favourite economist because he was one of the first to apply mathematical formalism to economic problems, something that was rarely done before — or at least, rarely done properly. That transformed economics from a mainly idealogical subject discussed in political cirlces to a social science with a formal foundation  — what I call the “scientification” of economics, allowing real scientific analysis that was not possible before. The Samuelson Criterion is still one of my favourites, because of its simplicity and elegance.

Truly one of the best.