Education: Updating a Classic

The book contains no sex, drugs or florid writing, but it is a best seller on college campuses all the same. Titled simply Economics, the classic textbook by Nobel Laureate Paul Samuelson has sold nearly 4 million copies since its 1948 debut. In the twelfth version, published last week by McGraw-Hill ($32.95), Samuelson for the first time has a co-author, Yale Professor William Nordhaus, who served on President Carter's Council of Economic Advisers. Samuelson, 69, who will retire in May from his professorship at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, chose Nordhaus, 43, to help keep the book timely and vital by updating and revising some sections. Says Samuelson: "It was a big decision. The book is like a child to me."

Nordhaus, who studied under Samuelson, at first felt handicapped by his reverence for the tome. Says he: "It was like trying to revise the King James Bible." One major change is a greater emphasis on monetary policy's role in controlling the economy. Earlier editions held the Keynesian view that federal spending policy was more important. The new version pays great attention to interest-rate policy and the role of the Federal Reserve Board.