Robert Samuelson writes a weekly economics column that usually runs in The Post on Mondays. He was a columnist for Newsweek magazine from 1984 to 2011. He began his journalism career as a reporter on The Post business desk, from 1969 to 1973. He was an economics reporter and columnist for National Journal magazine from 1976 to 1984 — when he joined Newsweek. Samuelson is the author of “The Great Inflation and Its Aftermath: The Past and Future of American Affluence” (2008) and “The Good Life and Its Discontents” (1995). He grew up in White Plains, N.Y. and attended Harvard College. He lives in Bethesda with his wife and their three children.