Great Thinkers in Economics Series

This book examines the academic life of Alvin Hansen and his contribution to modern economics. Through tracing the development of his early work and pre-Keynesian ideas, the influence of Keynes and the 1937-8 recession on the direction of his work …

This book examines the economic, social and political thought of two highly influential cross-disciplinary contributors to the debate in the United Kingdom about welfare economics, social welfare, nationalisation and public policy. Active between …

Allyn Young (1876-1929) was a deep thinker and achieved fame during his lifetime. His fame owes more to his style and influence as a teacher than his published work. His greatest fame as an author rests on a single economic paper on increasing …

Acclaimed by Joseph Schumpeter as ‘The greatest economist the United States has ever produced’, this book examines the life and work of American economist and statistician Irving Fisher (1867–1947). Fisher’s reputation suffered for decades after …

This book examines the work of Milton Friedman, which is amongst the most significant in modern economics and, equally, amongst the most contentious. Although Friedman became most famous for his views on money and monetary policy as well as his …

This landmark book describes and analyzes the original contributions Sir Roy Harrod made to fields including microeconomics, macroeconomics, international trade and finance, growth theory, trade cycle analysis and economic methodology. Harrod’s …

This book reviews James Meade's prolific contribution to economics and its lasting impact. Few economists have written so much and on so many different topics. Meade was awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics in 1977 (jointly with Bertil Ohlin) for …

This book explores the life and work of Austrian-British economist, political economist, and social philosopher, Friedrich Hayek. Set within a context of the recent financial crisis, alongside the renewed interest in Hayek and the Hayek-Keynes …

Thomas Robert Malthus (1766-1834) was a leading figure in the British classical school of economics, best-known for extending the insights of Adam Smith at a time of revolutionary improvements in agriculture and industry. This book explores the …

This book argues for the reconsideration of Frank Knight and the Chicago School of Economic thought in a post-Financial Crisis world. The author posits that the discussion of the founder of "Knightian Uncertainty" can reveal new insights into what …

This book summarizes the life and work of economist Kenneth E. Boulding. Boulding was a prolific writer, teacher and Quaker. Starting his career as an orthodox Keynesian economist, he eventually adopted a transdisciplinary approach to economic topics

James Buchanan (1919-2013), economist and philosopher, was awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics in 1986 for his original theory of political democracy as market exchange. Buchanan believed economics should be concerned with liberty, individualism and

The British economist Arthur Cecil Pigou (1877-59) reconceptualized economics as a theory of economic welfare and a logic of policy analysis. Misconceptions of his work abound. This book, an essay in demystification and the first reading of the …

This is an intellectual biography of G.L.S. Shackle, economic theorist, philosopher, and historian of economic theory. It explores how Shackle challenged the aims, methods and assumptions of mainstream economics. He stressed macroeconomic instability

James Tobin, 1981 Nobel laureate in economics, was the outstanding monetary economist among American Keynesian economists. This book, the first written about James Tobin, examines his leading role as a Keynesian macroeconomist and monetary economist,

Sir Arthur Lewis was the first development economist, the first Afro-Caribbean to hold a professorial chair at a British university and the first black man to win the Nobel prize for economics. However, he believed his contributions to the well-being

This book offers a new account of David Ricardo's political economy that is both scholarly and accessible. It provides a detailed overview of the secondary literature on Ricardo down to 2012, and discusses alternative perspectives on his work, includ

This book presents a thorough evaluation of Michal Kalecki's theory of the capitalist economy. It provides readers with a complete view of Kalecki's theory, including his very important writings on the economics of underdeveloped countries.

Joan Robinson is widely considered to be amongst the greatest economists of the 20th Century. This book provides a comprehensive study of her life and work, examining her role in the making of The General Theory, her critical interest in Marxian econ

This book explores the life and work of Nicholas Kaldor, examining the influences that shaped and inspired his writings, and looks in detail at the crucial part he played in twentieth-century economics. Offering a comprehensive intellectual portrait