Perguntado sobre o que diria a alguém começando a estudar Economia, Paul Samuelson não hesitou:  “tenha muito respeito ao estudo de história econômica”.  A recomendação foi feita em uma entrevista ao Atlantic Magazine em junho de 2009 (dica do Leo Monastério). Leia a pergunta e a resposta completa abaixo e a entrevista na íntegra aqui.

Very last thing. What would you say to someone starting graduate study in economics? Where do you think the big developments in modern macro are going to be, or in the micro foundations of modern macro? Where does it go from here and how does the current crisis change it?

Well, I’d say, and this is probably a change from what I would have said when I was younger: Have a very healthy respect for the study of economic history, because that’s the raw material out of which any of your conjectures or testings will come. And I think the recent period has illustrated that. (…)
But history doesn’t tell its own story. You’ve got to bring to it all the statistical testings that are possible.