Paul Solman: Today’s Paul Samuelson excerpt explains the concept of “consumer surplus.” See the other transcripts we posted this week on the basics of economics here and here.) To Samuelson, it was the justification for the market system.

Paul Solman: On Tuesday, we posted the first transcript from a series of interviews I’ve done with Paul Samuelson over the years. This installment picks up where the last left off, explaining the most basic ideas of economics —…

Paul Solman: Another dauntingly thought-provoking group of responses today as part of our week-long series on The Economic Year Ahead (yesterday’s feature on the next crisis garnered some particularly interesting contributions). Today’s question: What economic development in…

Paul Solman: I’ve done numerous interviews with Paul Samuelson over the years. Invariably, he was funny, imaginative and deep. Particularly memorable was a long session on the basics of economics about 10 years ago, in his office at…

Paul Solman: As the end of a tumultuous economic year approaches, we’ve asked a number of economists to weigh in on the year ahead. We’ll be featuring their responses here all week. The responses to today’s question –…

Paul Solman: A few years ago, my father, the artist Joseph Solman, and I had a meal with Paul and Risha Samuelson at the house of mutual friends. My dad was in his ridiculously hardy ’90s at the time; Paul,…