ROBERT M. SOLOW received the prize in economics in memory of Alfred Nobel in 1987. The award was given in recognition of Professor Solow's influential studies on the factors behind macroeconomic growth, and in particular his theoretical and empirical analyses of the importance and content of technical change.
Professor Solow was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1924. He received his doctorate from Harvard University and is currently professor of Economics at M.I.T. He holds several honorary appointments and is known for his ability to present difficult research results in a language that can be understood by a wider audience. In this little book Professor Solow gives an easily accessible presentation of the most difficult problem of all, the relations between the rate of return, the rate of interest and the value of capital.