The Golden Virtue of Eclecticism in Economics John R. Commons Award Lecture
This award consists of no stipend for the recipient—rather travel money for graduate students presenting papers at the Meetings in 2001 and 2002 will be given in the name of the Commons award recipient. As we all know, ODE exists to honor students. This year's Commons award winner has arguably had more influence on students during the past fifty years than any other economist. We all became acquainted with him when we were undergraduates—via a book simply titled Economics. When we first started graduate school we met him again with a book known as Foundations. And when we started course work in our fields, in field after field we encountered seminal papers he had written. For example: in Public Finance “The Pure Theory of Public Expenditure”; in International Economics “International Trade and the Equalization of Factor Prices.” The list goes on and on and on—but I won't. It is my distinct privilege to be able to introduce this year's John R. Commons award winner: Prof. Paul Samuelson.