http://www.preceden.

com/timelines/67774-history-of-economics
Eras
Ancient Greece
600 bc - 200 bc
Roman Empire
27 BC - 476
Industrial Revolution
1760 - 1830
The Industrial Revolution is one of the most significant changes in recent human
history. The transition included people moving from countryside to larger citie
s, going from hand production to the use of machines, increased use of steam pow
er and going from wood and other bio-fuels to the use of coal. For the first tim
e in recent history the living standard of the masses of ordinary people began e
xperienced a sustainable growth.
The classical school was largely influenced by the industrial revolution and thu
s influenced economics.
The Marginal Revolution
1865 - 1880
There are four main reasons for this period being called the Marginal Revolution
.
First, during the late nineteenth century much of the focus in economics turned
from the classical long-term development, that is the theory of population, welf
are and growth, towards shorter terms. The use of capital and labour in producti
on, the choices of the consumer and utility became important subjects. As hinted
by the phrasing the Marginal Revolution, the theory of decisions made at the marg
in was much studied and strongly influenced future economics. This goes especial
ly for the theory of marginal utility.
Second, the use of mathematics became more and more common, though Jevons did no
t particularly contribute to this development. Walras was the major contributor
on this field. As mentioned earlier, von Thnen, Cournot and some others began thi
s way of looking at economics some years before Jevons time, but the majority did
not. However, in the 1870 s, largely due to the major advances in natural science
, the general view in economics took a more mathematical approach.
More than the pioneers mentioned earlier, Jevons, Menger and Walras incorporated
these new theories into a system. And perhaps more importantly, more than earli
er these thoughts gained acceptance among the scientific environment. Although b
oth Walras and Menger wrote important works in the field of marginal utility and
the use mathematics in economics, Jevons developed his theories rather individu
ally.
Finally, the generation of economist including Jevons was, as mentioned earlier,
among the first to have a formal education in economics. Thus the scientific fi
eld gradually turned towards being a profession, which is rather different from
earlier economists.
World War I
1914 - 1918

Black Tuesday
10/29/1929
The Great Depression
10/29/1929 - 1940
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade pr
eceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations,
but in most countries it started in 1930 and lasted until the late 1930s or midd
le 1940s. It was the longest, most widespread, and deepest depression of the 20t
h century. The depression originated in the U.S., after the fall in stock prices
that began around September 4, 1929, and became worldwide news with the stock m
arket crash of October 29, 1929 (known as Black Tuesday). The Great Depression h
ad devastating effects in countries rich and poor. Personal income, tax revenue,
profits and prices dropped, while international trade plunged by more than 50%.
Unemployment in the U.S. rose to 25%, and in some countries rose as high as 33%
.
World War II
1939 - 1945
Lehman Brothers Collapsed
09/15/2008
Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. was a global financial services firm. Before decla
ring bankruptcy in 2008, Lehman was the fourth-largest investment bank in the US
, doing business in investment banking, equity and fixed-income sales and tradin
g (especially U.S. Treasury securities), research, investment management, privat
e equity, and private banking.
Today
2013
Schools
Physiocrats
1710 - 1765
Physiocracy is an economic theory developed by the Physiocrats, a group of econo
mists who believed that the wealth of nations was derived solely from the value
of land agriculture or land development. Their theories originated in France and wer
e most popular during the second half of the 18th century. Physiocracy is perhap
s the first well-developed theory of economics.
- Quesnay
- Cantillon
- Tourgot
Wikipedia
Classical School
1735 - 1860

Classical economics is widely regarded as the first modern school of economic th

ought. Its major developers include Adam Smith, Jean-Baptiste Say, David Ricardo
, Thomas Malthus and John Stuart Mill. Classical economists claimed that free ma
rkets regulate themselves, when free of any intervention. Adam Smith referred to
a so-called invisible hand, which will move markets towards their natural equil
ibrium, without requiring any outside intervention.
Pre-runner:
- Adam Smith
-

Ricardo
Malthus
Mill, James
Mill, John Stuart
Say

Wikipedia
Pre-Marginalists
1800 - 1850
The pre-marginalist did, as the marginalists, focus upon maximization and indivi
dual behaviour, either on the production or the demand side of the economy. Howe
ver, contrary to the marginalist, they did not achieve much publication and fame
in the scientific environment.
- von Thnen
- Dupuit
- Cournot
The Marginalists
1850 - 1900
The Marginalists includes Jevons, Menger and Walras, who were the most important
contributors to the Marginal Revolution. They worked on the decisions made by i
ndividuals in the economy and developed the demand and supply curves.
The three of the began the process of making economics a profession.
- Jevons
- Walras
- Menger
Neoclassical Economist
1850 - 1970
Irving Fisher introduced the term neoclassical economy in 1900, but it was later
used to include the works of also earlier writers. The term is a umbrella term
for several different schools including marginalism. However, excluding institut
ional economics and Marxism.
As expressed by E. Roy Weintraub, neoclassical economics rests on three assumpti
ons, although certain branches of neoclassical theory may have different approac
hes:
- People have rational preferences among outcomes that can be identified and ass
ociated with a value.
- Individuals maximize utility and firms maximize profits.
- People act independently on the basis of full and relevant information.

Jevons
Menger
Walras
von Weiser
von Bhm-Bawerk
Marshall
Wicksell
Fisher
Slutsky
Pareto
Hicks

Austrian School
1865 - 1920
The Austrian School of economics is a school of economic thought which bases its
study of economic phenomena on the interpretation and analysis of the purposefu
l actions of individuals It derives its name from its origin in late-19th and ea
rly-20th century Vienna with the work of Carl Menger, Eugen von Bhm-Bawerk, Fried
rich von Wieser, and others.
- Menger
- von Bhm-Bawerk
- von Weiser
American Insitutionalist
1918 - 1950
The institutional approach to economics goes back to a conference paper in 1918 by
Walton Hamilton titled The Institutional Approach to Economic Theory . The paper w
as a call for the profession at large to adopt the institutional approach and a co
nception of economic theory that was:
(i) capable of giving unity to economic investigations of many different areas;
(ii) relevant to the problem of social control;
(iii) relate to institutions as both the changeable elements of economic life and
the agencies through which they are to be directed ;
(iv) concerned with process in the form of institutional change and development; a
nd
(v) based on an acceptable theory of human behaviour, in harmony with the conclus
ions of modern social psychology .
At its inception, then, institutionalism could be seen as a very promising progr
amme modern, scientific, pointing to a critical investigation and analysis of th
e existing economic system and its performance.
Institutionalism was critical of marginal utility theory as a basis for a theory
of consumption and emphasized the social nature of the formation of consumption
values.
Institutional economics after 1945
Institutionalism had a strong position in American economics in the interwar per
iod, but declined in prestige after WWII from mainstream of American economics t
o a heterodox tradition on the margins of the discipline.
Keynesian Economists
1945 - 1980
Neo-Keynesian economics is a school of macroeconomic thought that was developed

in the post-war period from the writings of John Maynard Keynes. A group of econ
omists (notably John Hicks, Franco Modigliani, and Paul Samuelson), attempted to
interpret and formalize Keynes writings, and to synthesize it with the neo-class
ical models of economics. Their work has become known as the neo-classical synth
esis, and created the models that formed the core ideas of neo-Keynesian economi
cs. These ideas dominated mainstream economics in the post-war period, and forme
d the mainstream of macroeconomic thought in the 1950s, 60s and 70s.
Pre-runner:
- John Maynard Keynes
- Hicks
- Modigliani
- Samuelson
New Classical Economists
1970 - Present
New classical macroeconomics, sometimes simply called new classical economics, o
r monetarists, is a school of thought in macroeconomics that builds its analysis
entirely on a neoclassical framework. Specifically, it emphasizes the importanc
e of rigorous foundations based on microeconomics, especially rational expectati
ons.
New classical macroeconomics strives to provide neoclassical microeconomic found
ations for macroeconomic analysis. This is in contrast with its rival new Keynes
ian school that uses microfoundations such as price stickiness and imperfect com
petition to generate macroeconomic models similar to earlier, Keynesian ones.
One of the most famous new classical models is the real business cycle model, de
veloped by Edward C. Prescott and Finn E. Kydland.
New-Keynesian Economits
1991 - Present
New Keynesian economics is a school of contemporary macroeconomics that strives
to provide microeconomic foundations for Keynesian economics. It developed partl
y as a response to criticisms of Keynesian macroeconomics by adherents of New Cl
assical macroeconomics.
Two main assumptions define the New Keynesian approach to macroeconomics. Like t
he New Classical approach, New Keynesian macroeconomic analysis usually assumes
that households and firms have rational expectations. But the two schools differ
in that New Keynesian analysis usually assumes a variety of market failures. In
particular, New Keynesians assume that there is imperfect competition1 in price
and wage setting to help explain why prices and wages can become sticky , which me
ans they do not adjust instantaneously to changes in economic conditions.
Wage and price stickiness, and the other market failures present in New Keynesia
n models, imply that the economy may fail to attain full employment. Therefore,
New Keynesians argue that macroeconomic stabilization by the government (using f
iscal policy) or by the central bank (using monetary policy) can lead to a more
efficient macroeconomic outcome than a laissez faire policy would.
Economists
Xenophon
430 bc - 355 bc

Oikonomikos
Plato
428 bc - 347 bc
The ideal state.
Aristotle
384 bc - 322 bc
Politics

and

Nicomachean Ethics

Petty, William
1623 - 1687
Contributions to classical political economy in methods, concepts and analysis.
Argued for optimal taxation. A notion of surplus.
Quesnay, Francois
1694 - 1774
Tableau Economique
circular flow of economy
e only sector that produced net surplus.

and founder of Physiocrats. Agricultur

Cantillon, Richard
1697 - 1734
His only work rediscovered by Jevons. Influenced by Petty. Land/Labour theory of
value. Demand/Supply determining market prices. Major influence on Quesnay.
Smith, Adam
1723 - 1790
Adam Smith is without doubt one of the most important economist throughout histo
ry. Although most of the content in The Wealth of Nations were already discussed b
y earlier economist Smith put together theoretical elements in a convincing mann
er and appeared to be dealing with the real world instead of theoretical aspects
. He wrote on the productive organization, the causes of economic growth, value
and distribution. His most famous theory is that of the invisible hand.
Bjerkholt Smith Note
Tourgot, Anne
1727 - 1781
Realized decreasing returns in agriculture. Analysis of productive use of capita
l in all sectors. Forerunner to Adam Smith. Laissez-faire.
Bentham, Jeremy
1748 - 1832

Bentham was the founder of the utilitarian ethics and not an economist, but has
non the less been extremely important for the development of economics.
Mill, James
1763 - 1836
James Mill was along with Ricardo one of the founders of the classical school. H
owever, his contributions has been rather overshadowed by his son, John Stuart M
ill, and by his colleague Ricardo.
Malthus, Thomas
1766 - 1834
Argued against economist which believed in limitless improvement of society. Mal
thus placed the longer-term stability of the economy above short-term expediency
and thought that the dangers of population growth would preclude endless progre
ss towards a utopian society.
Say, Jean-Bapiste
1767 - 1832
Say was a French economist who became most famous for the Say Law , stating that sup
ply creates its own demand . He had classical liberal views, and argued for free t
rade.
Ricardo, David
1772 - 1823
Ricardo demonstrated the possibilities of using the abstract method of reasoning
to formulate economic theories. Ricardo s theorizing attracted a band of a schola
rs, corroborating, amending and extending his theories. His most important topic
s can be summarized to:
- The Theory of Rent
- The Labour Theory of Value
- The Distribution Problem
- The Currency Question
- Comparative Advantage
- Ricardian Equivalence
von Thnen, Johann Hermann
1783 - 1850
Von Thnen (1783-1850) was an important contributor to the ideas of profit maximiz
ation and marginal productivity. One important insight was the idea of diminishi
ng returns, i.e. how marginal productivity varies with factor inputs.
The importance of going from one factor to two factors should not be underrated,
this was the major contribution by von Thnen.
The works and ideas of von Thnen was, however, not very noted in his own time and
did not get much attention before the rediscovery by Jevons.
Cournot, Antoine Augustin
1801 - 1877
Cournot (1801-1877) had unique insights in applying mathematics in economics and

social sciences and contributed in the theory of prices, monopoly and perfect c
ompetition.
Cournot s demand function is not a demand schedule in the modern sense, it summarize
s the empirical relationship between price and quantity sold, rather than the co
nceptual relationship between price and the quantity sought by buyers. Cournot s f
unction is not derived from theories of individual behavior, he notes that the ac
cessory ideas of utility, scarcity, and suitability to the needs and enjoyments
of mankind are variable and by nature indeterminate, and consequently ill suited f
or the foundation of a scientific theory (Cournot, 1838: p.10).
Also Cournot s works was mostly recognized with the marginal breakthrough in the 1
870 s.
Dupuit, Arsne Jules tienne
1804 - 1866
Dupuit made the first successful connection between marginal utility and demand,
though only on a individual level and did not make any comments upon the aggreg
ate. His remarkable effort at developing a cost-benefit analysis of public works
led him to draw the demand curve in price-quantity space. Unlike Cournot, Dupui
t did not rest his demand curve on empirical intuition but rather identified the
demand curve as the marginal utility curve itself.
Mill, John Stuart
1806 - 1873
Mill s work on economics were much influenced by his utilitarian views. His early
economic philosophy was one of free markets. However, he accepted interventions
in the economy, such as a tax on alcohol, if there were sufficient utilitarian g
rounds. He also supported the Malthusian theory of population. By population he
meant the number of the working class only. He was therefore concerned about the
growth in number of labourers who worked for hire. He believed that population
control was essential for improving the condition of the working class so that t
hey might enjoy the fruits of the technological progress and capital accumulatio
n. He propagated birth control as against moral restraint.
Gossen, Hermann Heinrich
1815 - 1858
Gossen independently presented, in 1854, a theory where demand was derived from
the process of utility-maximizing by the consumer. However, Gossen s work did not
gain much publicity and thus were not discovered by Jevons until after publishin
g The Theory of Political Economy in 1871.
Gossen s second law is the crucial one and often referred to nowadays just as Gosse
n s Law . The idea that, at the margin, the consumer substitutes between goods to ob
tain the same marginal utility across goods, yields the downward-sloping demand
curve for each of the goods. When the price of a good rises, the marginal utilit
y in terms of money (MUi/pi) declines and thus (by Gossen s first law), less of th
at good will be bought.
Marx, Carl
1818 - 1883
Marx held that labour power could be considered a commodity, like any other comm
odity for sale, whose price could be explained in the same way as other commodit
ies.Marx s labour theory of value differed from Ricardo s by determining the absolut
e value of goods and services. Use value vs. exchange value of commodities. Exch

ange value determined by the socially necessary labour time embodied in the commod
ity. Marx was one of the first to point out that business cycle fluctuations was
a normal occurrence in capitalist economies. The class struggle leads inevitabl
e to the overthrow of the capitalist system and the dictatorship of the proletar
iat.
Walras, Leon
1834 - 1910
Walras was one of the three economist related to the Marginal Revolution, and he
was y far the one who evolved the use of mathematics in economy the most. He fo
rmulated the marginal theory of value , independently of Jevons and Menger, and pio
neered the development of a general equilibrium theory.
Jevons, William S.
1835 - 1882
Jevons was one of the three economists related to the Marginal Revolution. His c
ontribution centered mainly about utility. He argued that utility was the reason
for value and that economists should maximize happiness, i.e. utility.He define
d the final degree of utility as the additional utility gain for the last additi
onal commodity. From this he argued that utility is decreasing in amount of comm
odity, that optimal allocation is reached when the final degrees of utility of d
ifferent uses are equal. He did not however add a demand curve. All hos theories
are worked out independently of other economists.
Menger, Carl
1840 - 1921
Menger was the third economist related to the Marginal Revolution. Also he devel
oped a theory of marginal utility, independently of other economists writing on
the topic. He also explained how both sides would gain from trade.
Marshall, Alfred
1842 - 1924
Alfred Marshall succeeded Ricardo and J.S. Mill as the great name of British eco
nomics. He dominated the scene through eight editions of Principles of Economics
rom 1890 to 1920. The 700-page book was like a Bible for British economists and
used in universities in other countries as well. Marshall is regarded as founder
of the Cambridge School of Economics. He used the ideas of predecessors from Ri
cardo to Jevons and added a number of useful tools, concepts and graphs.
Edgeworth, Francis Ysidro
1845 - 1926
Edgeworth was the leading economist in Britain next to Marshall. His innovative
brilliance made him influential long after Marshall was virtually forgotten.Edge
worth applied utilitarianism as the appropriate principle of distributive justic
e through a contractarian approach. He also argued for maximum utility as the si
ngle principle in social sciences.
Edgeworth used Lagrange multipliers and even calculus of variations, techniques
few economists were familiar with. The book was difficult to read, because of bo
th content and style. It was in this book that Edgeworth introduced the generali
zed utility function, U(x, y, z, ), and drew the first indifference curves. Utili

ty curves entered in almost everything Edgeworth did in economics. He was the fi

rst to apply formal mathematical techniques to individual decision making in eco
nomics.
Jevons had studied the equilbrium when all agents took prices as given, Edgewort
h was concerned with understanding how an equilibrium could be reached among few
or many agents through contracting. Such contracting led generally to multiple
possible outcomes. Edgeworth s achievement was to show the conditions under which
competition between buyers and sellers, through a barter process, lead to the sa
me point as when all agents act as price takers.
Edgeworth s attitude to taxation was similar to that of the major classical econom
ists (and unlike Wicksell), in rejecting a benefit approach on the argument that
taxation is not an economic bargain governed by competition, it is about determ
ining the distribution of taxes for common purposes.
Pareto, Wilfed
1848 - 1923
Pareto s name is associated with general equilibrium, welfare economics and ordina
l utility. He was a forerunner of the axiomatic approach culminating with the Ar
row Debreu model. The impact of Pareto s work was not immediate and to begin with co
nfined to Italy and France.Pareto was preoccupied by the idea of the economy as
a complete system and by the interaction between the various parts of the econom
y, in line with Walras thinking and far from the partial equilibrium analysis of
Marshall. One of Pareto s major contributions was to establish that an ordinal not
ion of utility is sufficient for the construction of equilibrium theory. Few hav
e studied general equilibrium theory without learning about the Edgeworth box. D
espite the name, this graphical representation first appeared in Pareto s Manuale,
where it was used to motivate the attempted proofs of the welfare theorems in t
he general case. Pareto provided the standard equilibrium conditions for the con
sumer side of economy, with the marginal rate of substitution equal to the price
ratio. Of all Pareto s contributions it is Pareto optimality that has made the grea
test impact. Yet, it was not Pareto who first gave a definition of this concept,
as Edgeworth in 1881 had defined a situation in which the utility of each indiv
idual is maximized given the utilities of all others. Pareto had the insight tha
t this notion of efficiency was independent of all institutional arrangements an
d distributional considerations. Pareto went on to establish the first theorem o
f welfare economics, i.e. a competitive equilibrium is a Pareto optimum and a te
ntative version of the second theorem, that any Pareto optimum can be obtained a
s a competitive equilibrium from an appropriate distribution of initial resource
s.
von Weiser, Freidrich
1851 - 1926
Wieser s two main contributions are the theory of imputation , establishing that fact
or prices are determined by output prices (reversing the Classicals) and the the
ory of alternative cost or opportunity cost as the foundation of value theory. These
became fundamental subjectivist pillars in neoclassical theory. Wieser can be cre
dited with turning neoclassical economics firmly towards the study of scarcity a
nd resource allocation a fixed quantity of resources and unlimited wants
all bas
ed on the principle of marginal utility.
von Bawerk-Bhm, Eugen
1851 - 1914
Bhm-Bawerk is particularly well know for his three reasons for interest, which may
be viewed as BB s personal contribution ot the Austrian economics. 26

Wicksell, Knut
1851 - 1926
Wicksell s influence on modern economic thought has been profound and far-reaching
. It is noticable not least in the discussion of saving and investment that prec
eded the Keynesian breakthrough, in Hayeks s overinvestment theory of the business
cycle emphasizing the notions of capital shortage and forced saving, in Schumpe
ter s theory of economic development, in Frisch s dynamic theory of the busines cycl
es , and overwhelmingly in Swedish economic thought. Wicksell s use of mathematics
, although often somewhat hidden by literary form of presentation, set an import
ant precedent. Wicksell developed the marginal productivity theory of distributi
on, integrating it with the theory of capital and interest. His claim to fame to
day rests much on his contribution to monetary theory, based on the notion of mo
netary equilibrium and the distinction between the actual rate of interest and t
he natural one.
Wicksell s third contribution is his celebrated feedback policy rule, under which
the central bank stabilizes the price level by adjusting its interest rate in re
sponse to price level deviations from target, stopping only when prices converge
to target. A precursor of the modern Taylor rule, Wicksell s rule is the prototyp
e of all feedback policy rules discussed in the monetary literature today.
Veblen, Thorstein
1857 - 1929
Veblen was primarily an economist who wrote extensively
on methodological issues. Veblen believed that technological developments would
eventually lead toward a socialistic organization of economic affairs, but his v
iews regarding
socialism and the nature of the evolutionary process of economics differed sharp
ly from those of Marx. While Marx saw socialism as the ultimate goal for civiliz
ation and the working-class as the group that would establish it, Veblen saw soc
ialism more as an intermediate phase in an ongoing evolutionary
process in society that would be brought about by the natural decay of the busin
ess enterprise system and by the inventiveness of engineers.
Fisher, Irving
1867 - 1947
Irving Fisher is (according to James Tobin) the greatest economist America has p
roduced. He made seminal and durable contributions on a wide range of economic s
cience. Strongly promoting mathematical economics (with Cournot
as his great hero). Much of standard neoclassical theory today is Fisherian in o
rigin, spirit and substance. Most modern models of capital and interest are esse
ntially variations on Fisher s theme, the conjunction of intertemporal choices and
opportunities. Fisher s theory of money and prices is the foundation for much of c
ontemporary monetary economics. Fisher was deeply involved with quantitative emp
irical research, index numbers and their properties (on which
he was a world authority), and other early econometric approaches. Fisher s ideas
have frequently been rediscovered by others, e.g. distributed lag regression, li
fe cycle saving theory, the Phillips curve , consumption tax rather than income tax , th
e modern quantity theory of money, real vs. nominal interest rates, and many oth
er standard tools in economists kits. Fisher was not fully appreciated by his con
temporaries, partly because he was far ahead of
others, partly due to the reputation he lost.

Slutsky, Evgeny E.
1880 - 1948
Slutsky was a mathematician, statistician and economist, known in economics main
ly for the 1915 article, which was unnoticed until the mid-1930s but influenced
the further development of consumer theory. Building on earlier work by Pareto,
Slutsky showed that the effect of a price change on the quantity demanded can be
divided into two effects, which we are familiar with as the Slutsky equation.
Keynes, John Maynard
1883 - 1946
John Maynard Keynes was a British economist whose ideas have fundamentally affec
ted the theory and practice of modern macroeconomics, and informed the economic
policies of governments. He built on and greatly refined earlier work on the cau
ses of business cycles, and is widely considered to be one of the founders of mo
dern macroeconomics and the most influential economist of the 20th century. His
ideas are the basis for the school of thought known as Keynesian economics, as w
ell as its various offshoots. In many ways, subsequent developments in 20th cent
ury economics can be viewed as either building on Keynes ideas or reacting agains
t them.
In the 1930s, Keynes spearheaded a revolution in economic thinking, overturning
the older ideas of neoclassical economics that held that free markets would, in
the short to medium term, automatically provide full employment, as long as work
ers were flexible in their wage demands. Keynes instead argued that aggregate de
mand determined the overall level of economic activity, and that inadequate aggr
egate demand could lead to prolonged periods of high unemployment. He advocated
the use of fiscal and monetary measures to mitigate the adverse effects of econo
mic recessions and depressions. Following the outbreak of the Second World War,
Keynes s ideas concerning economic policy were adopted by leading Western economie
s.Keynes died in 1946, but during the 1950s and 1960s the success of Keynesian e
conomics resulted in almost all capitalist governments adopting its policy recom
mendations.
Fricsh, Ragnar
1895 - 1973
Frisch defined Econometrics with the following statement; Intermediate between ma
thematics, statistics, and economics, we find a new discipline which, for lack o
f a better name, may be called econometrics.
Econometrics has as its aim to subject abstract laws of theoretical political ec
onomy or pure economics to experimental and numerical verification, and thus to tu
rn pure economics, as far as possible, into a science in the strict sense of the
word.
Bjerkholt Notes
Ohlin, Bertil
1899 - 1979
Olin s name lives on in one of the standard mathematical model of international fr
ee trade, the Heckscher Ohlin model, which he developed together with Eli Hecksche
r.
Hicks, John R.

1904 - 1989
Hicks may have been close to being in the last generation of economists who coul
d take up almost any theoretical problem.
The most familiar of his many contributions in the field of economics were his s
tatement of consumer demand theory in microeconomics, and the IS/LM model (1937)
, which summarised a Keynesian view of macroeconomics. His powerful and original
mind first made its mark on what is now called microeconomics and in welfare ec
onomics. Hicks best-known work, Value and Capital (1939), goes beyond microeconom
ics to offer economic dynamics and discussion of monetary theory which reaches i
nto macroeconomics. Value and Capital is a work very rich in ideas and a short a
ccount cannot do it justice. It showed that the basic results of consumer theory
could be obtained from ordinal utility; it expounded what became known as the Hi
cksian substitution effect , obtained by varying income as relative prices changed
so as to maintain an index of utility constant
Haavelmo, Trygve
1911 - 1999
In 1989 Haavelmo was awarded the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics for his clarif
ication of the probability theory foundations of econometrics and his analyses o
f simultaneous economic structures . It is hardly an exaggeration to denote the Pr
obability Approach as the greatest landmark in the history of econometrics.
Freidman, Milton
1912 - 2006
He theorized there existed a natural rate of unemployment, and argued that governm
ents could increase employment above this rate (e.g., by increasing aggregate de
mand) only at the risk of causing inflation to accelerate. He argued that the Ph
illips curve was not stable and predicted what would come to be known as stagfla
tion. Milton Friedman s works include many monographs, books, scholarly articles,
papers, magazine columns, television programs, videos, and lectures, and cover a
broad range of topics of microeconomics, macroeconomics, economic history, and
public policy issues.
Samuelson, Paul
1915 - 2009
Samuelson is considered to be one of the founders of neo-Keynesian economics and
a seminal figure in the development of neoclassical economics. He was also esse
ntial in creating the Neoclassical synthesis, which incorporated Keynesian and n
eoclassical principles and still dominates current mainstream economics.
Modigliani, Franco
1918 - 2003
Modigliani made two path-breaking contributions to economic science:
Along with Merton Miller, he formulated the important Modigliani Miller theorem in
corporate finance. This theorem demonstrated that under certain assumptions, th
e value of a firm is not affected by whether it is financed by equity (selling s
hares) or debt (borrowing money).
He was also the originator of the life-cycle hypothesis, which attempts to expla
in the level of saving in the economy. Modigliani proposed that consumers would
aim for a stable level of consumption throughout their lifetime, for example by
saving during their working years and spending during their retirement.

Arrow, Kenneth
1921 - Present
In economics, he is considered an important figure in post-World War II neo-clas
sical economic theory. Many of his former graduate students have gone on to win
the Nobel Memorial Prize themselves. Arrow s impact on the economics profession ha
s been tremendous. For more than fifty years he has been one of the most influen
tial of all practicing economists.
His most significant works are his contributions to social choice theory, notabl
y Arrow s impossibility theorem , and his work on general equilibrium analysis. He ha
s also provided foundational work in many other areas of economics, including en
dogenous growth theory and the economics of information.
Working with Grard Debreu, Arrow produced the first rigorous proof of the existen
ce of a market clearing equilibrium, given certain restrictive assumptions. For
this work and his other contributions, Debreu won the Nobel prize in 1983. Arrow
went on to extend the model and its analysis to include uncertainty, the stabil
ity of equilibria, and whether a competitive equilibrium is efficient.
Solow, Robert
1924 - Present
Robert Merton Solow is an American economist particularly known for his work on
the theory of economic growth that culminated in the exogenous growth model name
d after him.
Lucas, Robert
1937 - Present
One of the most influential economists since the 1970s, he challenged the founda
tions of macroeconomic theory (previously dominated by the Keynesian economics a
pproach), arguing that a macroeconomic model should be built as an aggregated ve
rsion of microeconomic models (while noting that aggregation in the theoretical
sense may not be possible within a given model). He developed the Lucas critique o
f economic policymaking, which holds that relationships that appear to hold in t
he economy, such as an apparent relationship between inflation and unemployment,
could change in response to changes in economic policy. This led to the develop
ment of New Keynesian economics and the drive towards microeconomic foundations
for macroeconomic theory.
Lucas is also well known for his investigations into the implications of the ass
umption of rational expectations. He developed a theory of supply that suggests
people can be tricked by unsystematic monetary policy; the Lucas-Uzawa model (wi
th Hirofumi Uzawa) of human capital accumulation; and the Lucas paradox , which con
siders why more capital does not flow from developed countries to developing cou
ntries. He also contributed foundational contributions to behavioral economics,
and has provided the intellectual foundation that enables us to understand devia
tions from the law of one price based on the irrationality of investors.
Prescott, Edward
1940 - Present
Edward Prescott and Finn Kydland Nobel prize for economics was based on two pape
rs Prescott and Kydland wrote. In the first paper, written in 1977 Rules Rather t

han Discretion: : The inconsistency of optimal planning Prescott and Kydland argu
e that purpose and goals of economic planning and policy is to trigger a desired
response from the economy. However, Prescott and Kydland realized that these se
ctors are made up of individuals, individuals who make assumptions and predictio
ns about the future. As Prescott and Kydland stated Even if there is a fixed and
agreed upon social objective function and policy makers know the timing and magn
itude of the effects of their actions correct evaluation of the end-of-point posi
tion does not result in the social objective being maximized. Prescott and Kyland
were pointing out that agents in the economy already factor into their decision
making the assumed response by policy makers to a given economic climate.
Additionally Prescott and Kydland felt that the policy makers due to their relat
ionship with government suffered from a credibility issue. The reason for this d
ynamic is that the political process is designed to fix problems and benefit its
citizens today. Prescott and Kydland demonstrated this with a simple yet convin
cing example. In this example they take an area that has been shown likely to fl
ood (a flood plain) and the government has stated that the socially optimal outco
me is to not have houses be built in that area and therefore the government state
s that it will not provide flood protection (dams, levees, and flood insurance)
rational agents will not live in that area. However, rational agents are forward
planning creatures and know that if they and others build houses in the flood p
lain the government which makes decisions based on current situations will then
provide flood protection in the future. While Prescott never uses these words he
is describing a moral hazard.
Stiglitz, Joseph
1943 - Present
Stiglitz s work focuses on income distribution, asset risk management, corporate g
overnance, and international trade.
Kydland, Finn
1943 - Present
Edward Prescott and Finn Kydland Nobel prize for economics was based on two pape
rs Prescott and Kydland wrote. In the first paper, written in 1977 Rules Rather t
han Discretion: : The inconsistency of optimal planning Prescott and Kydland argu
e that purpose and goals of economic planning and policy is to trigger a desired
response from the economy. However, Prescott and Kydland realized that these se
ctors are made up of individuals, individuals who make assumptions and predictio
ns about the future. As Prescott and Kydland stated Even if there is a fixed and
agreed upon social objective function and policy makers know the timing and magn
itude of the effects of their actions correct evaluation of the end-of-point posi
tion does not result in the social objective being maximized. Prescott and Kyland
were pointing out that agents in the economy already factor into their decision
making the assumed response by policy makers to a given economic climate.
Additionally Prescott and Kydland felt that the policy makers due to their relat
ionship with government suffered from a credibility issue. The reason for this d
ynamic is that the political process is designed to fix problems and benefit its
citizens today. Prescott and Kydland demonstrated this with a simple yet convin
cing example. In this example they take an area that has been shown likely to fl
ood (a flood plain) and the government has stated that the socially optimal outco
me is to not have houses be built in that area and therefore the government state
s that it will not provide flood protection (dams, levees, and flood insurance)
rational agents will not live in that area. However, rational agents are forward
planning creatures and know that if they and others build houses in the flood p
lain the government which makes decisions based on current situations will then

provide flood protection in the future. While Prescott never uses these words he
is describing a moral hazard.
Krugman, Paul
1953 - Present
Krugman is known in academia for his work on international economics (including
trade theory, economic geography, and international finance),1011 liquidity trap
s, and currency crises. He also writes on topics ranging from income distributio
n to international economics. Krugman considers himself a liberal.
Works
Tableau Economique
1759
Quesnay
"The Wealth of Nations"
1776
Adam Smith
An Essay on the Principles of Population
1798
Thomas Malthus
Theory of Wealth
1838
Cournot
Principles - The Principles of Political Economy
1848
John Stuart Mill
"The Theory of Political Economy"
1871
Jevons

main work

Mathematical Psychics
1881
Edgeworth
Principles of Economics
1890

Alfred Marshall
On the theory of the budget of the consumer
1915
Slutsky
The Treatise on Money
1930
Keynes
The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money
1936
Keynes
Value and Capital
1939
Hicks
The Probability Approach in Econometrics
1944
Haavelmo
Economics: An Introductionary Analysis
1948
Samuelson
Lucas Critique
1976
- See more at: http://www.preceden.com/timelines/67774-history-of-economics#stha
sh.sZsSVf8j.dpuf