Foundations of Economic Analysis.

Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press,, 1947. First edition, first impression, of the book which established mathematics as the foundation of economics, rather than an addendum. Samuelson's first book, based on his doctoral dissertation at Harvard, was one of the most influential economic texts of the 20th century. "His doctoral dissertation is regarded by most economists as providing the mathematical foundations for contemporary economics... more than anyone else he bears responsibility for the mathematical bent of economics in the late 20th century" (Pressman, pp. 162-3). Samuelson demonstrates that the common mathematical structure underlying multiple branches of economics is based on a set of basic principles: the optimising behaviour of agents and the stability of equilibrium as to economic systems. Provenance: Charles F. Carter (1919-2002), economist and inaugural vice-chancellor of the University of Lancaster, with his signature (dated August 1948) to the front free endpaper. Octavo. Original red cloth, spine lettered in black. Tables, graphs, and formulas in the text. Very light rubbing, faint sunning to spine, minor foxing to endpapers and edges: a near-fine copy. Fundaburk 2039; Mattioli 3186. Steven Pressman, Fifty Major Economists, 1999.