Nobel-winning economist dead at 94

In this January 4, 1998 file photo, Nobel laureate Paul Samuelson listens to remarks during a programme in Chicago to mark the 50th year and the 16th edition of his book "Economics." Samuelson, one of the leading economists of the 20th century, died on Sunday at his home in Belmont, Massachusetts. He was 94.

Economist Paul A. Samuelson, a Nobel laureate and winner of the National Medal of Science, has died. He was 94.

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where Samuelson taught, says he died Sunday at his home in Belmont, Massachusetts.

Samuelson was one of the leading economists of the 20th century, and served as an adviser to Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson. He won the Nobel Prize in economics in 1970.

During a 1974 conference on inflation, he said America was suffering from “stagflation,” which he described as a toxic mix of high unemployment and high inflation over long periods of time.

He literally wrote the text book on modern economics. His Economics: An Introductory Analysis has been translated into 40 languages and is now in its 19th edition in English.