Economics

IT seems only fitting that economist Robert M. Solow should win the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for a study undertaken 30 years ago describing ``how increased capital stock generates greater per capita production.'' Dr. Solow, an economist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has amply earned the award by his own hard work over the years and his highly regarded teaching methods. Solow is the 15th American economist (including his good friend and MIT colleague Paul A. Samuelson) to have won the Nobel in economics. No aloof ivory-tower scholar, Solow has managed to combine solid research, government service (under Presidents Kennedy and Johnson), and teaching, including undergraduates.

Solow faults the White House for high US trade and budget deficits. President Reagan's longstanding reluctance to raise taxes, he says, has worked against solutions.

It is perhaps ironic that Solow's award was announced during this period of stock-market turmoil. His work deals with the flows of capital from savings and labor, and with growth - the latter finally ``determined by technological progress.'' Given the razzle-dazzle corporate takeovers undertaken by speculators of late, it is useful to be reminded of the deeper correlations between investment and technological progress.