A. J. Brown and the US Phillips Curve: A Comment

Abstract

Abstract Several recent papers have focused on Paul Samuelson and Robert Solow’s 1960 article applying the Phillips curve to the US. These interactions have been partly technical in nature, but have also involved discussion of the use of the curve in US policy making and its interpretation. The attention here is on the contribution of Samuelson and Solow’s work in light of prior analysis of the US situation by the English economist A. J. Brown. Much of what Samuelson and Solow argue was already understood by Brown, and his empirical analysis was at least as insightful as theirs.