Tuesday 17 May 2011

Famous Economists

Studying, developing and applying theories and concepts of economics is no easy thing to do, and excellence in doing this is what it takes to become a good economist. Some of the famous people who would feature in any famous economists list owing to their contributions to this field would include John Keynes, Milton Friedman, David Hume, Thomas Malthus, etc. Even though they came from different parts of the world, these economists did play a key role in the development of world economy.

Famous Economists of the World

There is absolutely no denying to the fact that economists have an important role to play when it comes to the development of the economy of a nation, or the world for that matter. Going through the list of famous economists given below will put some light on the life of some economists, their achievements, and their contributions to the field of economics.

John Maynard Keynes (1883 - 1946)
John Maynard Keynes was a British economist, best known for spearheading the revolution in economic thinking, which overturned the then existent ideas of neoclassical economics. Keynes is also regarded by many as the founder of modern theoretical macroeconomics. It was his ideas that formed the basis of an independent school of thought - Keynesian economics. His contributions to the field include some of the most useful economic concepts such as Liquidity Preference, Aggregate Demand-Aggregate Supply Model, etc.

Milton Friedman (1912 - 2006)
Yet another renowned figure in the field of economics, Milton Friedman was an American economist and statistician. An ardent advocate of laissez-faire capitalism, Friedman was awarded the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics in 1976. He was best known for his demonstration of the complexity of stabilization policy - a policy which was introduced to stabilize the economy. Some of his prominent contributions to this field include the concept of Monetarism, Price Theory, Applied Macroeconomics, Friedman Test, etc.

David Hume (1711 - 1776)
David Hume was a renowned philosopher and economist hailing from Scotland. Even though he was more of a philosopher, he is regarded as one of the famous economists of the world as his discussions on politics led to development of several ideas that are prevalent in the field of economics. For instance, Hume was of the opinion that foreign trade is a stimulus for economic growth, and therefore is very important for the development of the nation. David Hume's contribution to economics include The Bundle Theory, Is-Ought Problem, Utility, etc.

Irving Fisher (1867 - 1947)
One of the famous American economists, Irving Fisher is best known for economic concepts such as the Fisher equation and Fisher separation theorem. It was his work on quantity theory of money that became the basis for the development of Milton Friedman's concept of 'monetarism'. Other than the Fisher equation and Fisher separation theorem, he is also known for contributions such as the Price Index, Philip's Curve, Monetary Illusion, etc.

Thomas Robert Malthus (1766 - 1834)
Not many people would need an introduction to the English demographer and political economist Thomas Robert Malthus, best known for his popularization of the economic theory of rent. He was one of those economists who played a crucial role in the development of the the first modern school of economic thought - classical economics. Thomas Malthus was one of the most influential, as well as the most controversial figure in the field of economics and politics. His major contribution to this field came in the form of the Malthusian Growth Model.

Friedrich Hayek (1899 - 1992)
Friedrich Hayek was an Austrian-born economist and philosopher, best known for his support of classical liberalism and free-market capitalism. He was a member of the Austrian School of economics. The Hebbian Theory, Economic Calculation Problem, Price Signal, Spontaneous Order, etc. were some of his major contributions to economics. Hayek was awarded the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics in 1974, which he shared with the Swedish economist Gunnar Myrdal.

Joan Robinson (1903 - 1983)
British economist Joan Robinson was one of the most famous women economists that the world has ever seen. She started off as a supporter of neoclassical economics, but eventually shifted bases to post-Keynesian economics. Robinson was best known for her knowledge about monetary economics and contributions to economic theory. Her major contributions to post-Keynesian economics came in form of Cambridge Growth Theory and Amoroso-Robinson Relation.

James Tobin (1918 - 2002)
James Tobin was an American economist, who was one of the prominent figures involved in the development of Keynesian economics. He is best known for the Tobit model, which describes the relationship between a non-negative dependent variable and an independent variable. He was awarded the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences in 1981. Other noteworthy contributions by James Tobin to the field of macroeconomics include Portfolio Theory and Tobin's q.

Amartya Sen (1933 - present)
One of the most famous economists of the 20th century, Amartya Sen, hailing from India, is best known for his human development theory - which is a combination of ecological economics, sustainable development, welfare economics, and feminist economics. Dr. Sen's contributions to welfare economics earned him the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences in 1998. He was listed as one of the 100 most influential persons in the world by Time Magazine in 2010.

Paul Krugman (1953 - present)
Paul Krugman is an American economist best known for his work on international economics. The biography of Paul Krugman tells you exactly why he is considered to be one of the famous economists today. His noteworthy contributions in the field of economics include the International Trade Theory, New Trade Theory, New Economic Geography, etc. In fact, it was his work on the New Trade Theory and New Economic Geography that earned him a Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics in 2008. A columnist for The New York Times, Krugman has 20 books and over 200 scholarly articles to his credit.

Those were some of the famous economists in history who made a mark in the field on economics with their brilliant contributions. Their works didn't just help the economy of their respective countries, but was quite beneficial for the world economy as well. If it were not for these economists, several key concepts of the subject would have been way more difficult for us to understand or explain.

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