Great Economic Thinkers

Great Economic Thinkers presents an accessible introduction to the lives and works of the most influential economists of modern times. Free from confusing jargon and equations, the book describes and discusses key economic concepts—such as the role played by the division of labour, wages and rents, cognitive biases, saving, entrepreneurship, game theory, liberalism, laissez-faire, and welfare economics—showing how they have come to shape how we see ourselves and our society today.

All of the thirteen economists featured—Adam Smith, David Ricardo, John Stuart Mill, Karl Marx, Alfred Marshall, Joseph Schumpeter, John Maynard Keynes, and Nobel Prize winners Friedrich Hayek, Milton Friedman, John Forbes Nash, Jr, Daniel Kahneman, Amartya Sen, and Joseph Stiglitz—have had a profound influence on our attitudes towards market intervention and regulation, taxation, trade, and monetary policy. Each chapter combines a biographical outline of a single thinker with critical analysis of their contribution to economic thought. The book features an introduction by economics historian D'Maris Coffman.

If you've ever wanted to find out more about the theorists who gave us the 'invisible hand', Keynesianism, 'creative destruction', behavioural economics, and other concepts, this book is the perfect place to start.