If we made an income pyramid out of a child’s...

“If we made an income pyramid out of a child’s blocks, with each layer portraying $1,000 of income, the peak would be far higher than the Eiffel Tower, but almost all of us would be within a yard of the ground.”

Paul Samuelson, Economics, 6th ed. (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1964), p. 113 (via aow)

Samuelson’s textbook is probably the most influential economics textbook in history, which makes it all the more striking how difficult it is to imagine finding a statement like this in a contemporary econ textbook.

10 months ago
Paul Samuelson income inequality economics

“If we made an income pyramid out of a child’s blocks, with each layer portraying $1,000 of income, the peak would be far higher than the Eiffel Tower, but almost all of us would be within a yard of the ground.”

Writing Capital