Samuelson Jests

I might as well document some jibes Kevin Quinn finds amusing. These are from two different articles from two different periods:

"I have dealt with Karl Marx the economist, not Marx the philosopher of history and revolution. A minor Post-Ricardian, Marx was an autodidact cut off in his lifetime from competent criticism and stimulus."-- Paul A. Samuelson (1957) "Wages and Interest: A Modern Dissection of Marxian Economic Models", American Economic Review, V. 47 (Dec.): pp. 884-912

"The 'transformation algorithm' is precisely of the following form: 'contemplate two alternative and discordant systems. Write down one. Now transform by taking an eraser and rubbing it out. Then fill in the other one. Voila! You have completed your transformation algorithm.'" -- Paul A. Samuelson (1971) "Understanding the Marxian Notion of Exploitation: A Summary of the So-Called Transformation Problem Between Marxian Values and Competitive Prices", Journal of Economic Literature, V. 9, N. 2 (June): pp. 399-431

"The truth has now been laid bare. Stripped of logical complication and confusion, anybody's method of solving the famous transformation problem is seen to involve returning from the unnecessary detour taken in Volume I's analysis of values. As I have cited in my mathematical paper, such a 'transformation' is precisely like that in which an eraser is used to rub out an earlier entry, after which we make a new start to end up with the properly calculated entry." -- Paul A. Samuelson (1971) "Understanding the Marxian Notion of Exploitation: A Summary of the So-Called Transformation Problem Between Marxian Values and Competitive Prices", Journal of Economic Literature, V. 9, N. 2 (June): pp. 399-431

Samuelson refers to:

• Paul A. Samuelson (1970) "The 'Transformation' from Marxian 'Values' to Competitive 'Prices': A Process of Rejection and Replacement", Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 67(1) (Sept.): pp. 423-425.

As far as I know, no economist responded to Samuelson’s paper in the 1950s. He had reaction in the 1970s. The JEL published replies by Abba Lerner and Michio Morishima; an editorial comment by Mark Perlman; an analysis by Martin Brofenbrenner of submitted but unpublished reactions by Gordon Bjornson, Jean Cartelier, Bruno Jossa, David Laibman, Paul Massick, and Murray Wolfson; a paper on Marx by William Baumol; and responses by Samuelson, including an interchange with Joan Robinson. I suggest the difference in the number of reactions has something to do with events in non-academia. Perhaps the sixties had some impact on the algebra in which some economists were interested.