Notable Economists of the World

Adam Smith (1723-1790)

Adam Smith, a Scottish philosopher, and economist is often considered as the father of modern economics. He is well known for his classic work An Enquiry into the Nature and Causes of Wealth of Nations, generally known as The Wealth of Nations. It is the first modern work of economics and remains the most important book about economics till the present day. Adam Smith is considered as the founder symbol of free-market economy and the supporter of laissez-faire. He laid the intellectual framework that explains how rational self-interest and competition through the invisible hand lead to the most efficient use of resources in an economy and thereby promote social welfare. The writings of Adam Smith have had a profound impact on modern economics.

Alfred Marshall (1842-1924)

Alfred Marshall, who was a Professor of Political Economy at Cambridge University is known as one of the founders of modern economics. His most famous student, J.M. Keynes, described Marshall as the greatest economist of the 19th century. Marshall's book, Principles of Economics (1890), was considered the most influential textbook in economics with a world-wide reputation for many years. It decisively shaped the teaching of economics in English-speaking countries. Marshall's main contributions to economics relate to the issues of demand and supply, marginal utility, consumer 'surplus, economies of scale, cost of production, short term, and long term, etc.

Lionel Robbins (1898-1984)

Lionel Robbins was one of the leading and most influential English economists of the 20th century. He was associated with the London School of Economics and Political Science (popularly known as LSE) for over 30 years, both as the Professor of Economics and as the Chairman of the Board of Governors. He wrote on wages, inflation, the economics of war, and the history of economic thought. However, his major work was his Essay on the Nature and Significance of Economics, in which he gave the famous definition of economics. His Report on Higher Education (1963) became a landmark in the development of higher education in the UK in the 1960s and the 1970s, which led to the formation of the modern British University System.

Paul A. Samuelson (1915-2009)

Paul Samuelson was an American economist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (popularly known as MIT), who became the first American to receive the Nobel Prize in Economics (1970). Professor Samuelson is often considered the father of modern economics. He became the most influential and the foremost economist of the second half of the 20th century. He made fundamental: contributions to economic science in the fields of welfare economics, public finance, international economics, macroeconomics, consumer theory, etc. He was the author of the best-selling economics textbook of all time entitled Economics, An Introductory Analysis (1948). This book has sold nearly 4 million copies in 41 languages. Through this book, Samuelson has introduced millions of people to the subject of economics. He also helped in building MIT into one of the world's great centers of graduate education in economics.

Simon Kuznets (1901–85)

Simon Kuznets was a Russian-American economist at Harvard University, who won the 1971 Nobel Prize in Economics for his empirical work on economic growth, which has led to a new insight into the process of development. He was one of the earliest writers on development economics. His work led to the identification of the nexus between modern economic development and the empirical characteristics of developing and developed countries.

Karl Marx (1818–83)

Karl Marx was a German philosopher, economist, sociologist, historian, and revolutionary socialist. He published numerous books during his time, notable being The Communist Manifesto and Das Kapital. Marx is widely considered as one of the most influential thinkers of the 19th century. He had a significant influence on world politics and intellectual thought. His political, social, and economic ideas led to the socialist movement after his death. At one time, communism was established in more than 20 countries, inspired by the revolutionary ideas of Marx. The writings of Marx form the basic body of thoughts and beliefs known as Marxism.

Amartya Sen and Mahabubul Haq: Visionaries of the Human Development Index

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) articulated the concept of human development in its Human Development Report (HDR) in 1990. This report began a new approach to economic development, which led to the construction of the Human Development Index (HDI). HDI is the vision of the two well-known economists Mahabub-Ul-Haq of Pakistan and Nobel laureate Amartya Sen of India-working with other leading development thinkers. These two economists have become the pioneering leaders of the human development approach, their concept of HDI has guided not only over 20 years of Global Human Development Reports but also more than 600 National Development Reports. Equally important is the fact that the human development approach has a profound effect on the entire generation of policymakers and development specialists around the world. As a result, policymakers, public officials, as well as economists, and social scientists, now view economic development in terms of overall societal advancement rather than concentrating only on the traditional national income.

John Maynard Keynes (1883-1946)

J.M. Keynes was a British economist of the 20th century whose ideas have profoundly influenced the theory and practice of modern macroeconomics. He is widely considered to be one of the founders of modern macroeconomics. His writings resulted in a new school of thought, known as Keynesian economics. He was stimulated by the need to explain and then solve the high unemployment problems faced by the advanced capitalist countries in the 1930s. His best-known work is General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money, popularly known as the General Theory. In his General Theory, he explained the causes of cyclical unemployment. He advocated fiscal and monetary measures to cure unemployment. He argued that full employment could be maintained only with the help of government spending on public works and deficit spending.

Theodore W. Schultz (1902-99)

Theodore W. Schultz was awarded Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences in 1979 (jointly with Arthur Lewis) for his pioneering research in economic development with consideration for the problems of developing countries. His work on development economics focused on the role of agriculture and education and access to health care in economic development. Schultz was the first economist to systematize how education can affect productivity in the economy. He inspired a lot of work in the field of human capital.