Robert Solow, Clark Medalist 1961

Citation by Clair Wilcox, Chairman, Committee on Honors and Awards, on the Occasion of Conferring the Medal

Every other year the American Economic Association awards the John Bates Clark Medal "to that economist under the age of forty who is adjudged to have made a significant contribution to economic thought and knowledge." In past years, the Association has awarded the medal to Paul A. Samuelson, to Kenneth E. Boulding, to Milton Friedman, to James Tobin, to Kenneth J. Arrow, and to Lawrence R. Klein. The award is made by a joint vote of the Association's Executive Committee and its Committee on Honors and Awards. This year, as before, the selection of a recipient for the award was difficult. The committees were forced to choose among a number of younger economists, all of whom were qualified. Its final choice was Professor Robert M. Solow of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In arriving at this decision, the committees were impressed by the wide range of Professor Solow's interests, by the originality and the excellence of his analytical techniques, by his substantive contributions to the theory of income distribution and to the theory of economic growth, by the emphasis he has placed, not on mathematical or statistical method, but on the economic significance of his work, and by his ability to contribute not only to the advancement of economic knowledge but also to the formulation of economic policy. On behalf of the American Economic Association, I now have the privilege and the pleasure of presenting the John Bates Clark Medal to Robert M. Solow.