The 10 Greatest Economists of all time in no order

[ag]

To suggest that Hayek is respected by anybody other than extreme right wing halfwits is foolish.

Not true at all. He did have important insights, and he was a respected member of the economics profession.

[ag]

Yeah, Hayek was not an actual economist. Political theorist/philosopher is a more accurate description.

Pretty sure Ricardo deserves a spot in the top 10.

Hayek is a respected figure in the economics profession. Von Mises, of those on this list, would be more of a problem. Along with Marx, he shares the dubious distinction of starting a religious cult. But, at least, Marxism has been influential.

Who respects Hayek?

Trust me: many people

[ag]

Fair enough, but let's face it, the reasons the right considers him a great economist have little to do with his serious economic research, and everything to do with his hackish rants against the inherent evil of redistribution.

The insight about the informational problems of the central planning has been very influential. And, in fact, the development of the mechanism design can be viewed as a response to it.

[ag]

Amartya Sen
John Maynard Keynes
Robert Solow
Paul Samuelson
Milton Friedman
Gary Becker
Hyman Minsky
Kenneth Arrow
Thomas Piketty
Elinor Ostrom

7 out of 10 names definitely belong. Minsky is an interesting choice. Why? Ostrom has not been as influential. As for Piketty.... wait a few years But Keynes, Arrow, Sen, Solow, Samuelson, Friedman, Becker - very nice list indeed.

[AggregateDemand]

I hope you realize that the manner in which you use the words "econometric research" has not been current for well over 50 years now. Would you mind, actually, using the language at least some people alive now could understand?

When did statistical empiricism become an outdated definition of econometrics?

[Oakvale]

No, but I'm not entirely sure what your point is here. An economist's writings for popular consumption shouldn't have an effect on their standing as economists - otherwise you're going to have to start dismissing Friedman, too, let alone people like Krugman. ...Serfdom is still an order of magnitude a more substantial popular work than most of his latter day acolytes have produced.


1.Only among halfwits.

2.I believe Hayeks' contemporary Keynes books have sold significantly more than Hayek's 'books'.

Read my post again. I said it was a more substantial popular work, not a substantially more popular work. Regardless, your point about Keynes may well be true but is entirely irrelevant for both the above reason and the fact that Keynes was hardly one of Hayek's "latter day acolytes".

If you want to continue to insist that Hayek is some kind of marginal laughing stock that's fine, but it's not a particularly viable argument to make. Yes, a lot of his thinking hasn't exactly stood the test of time, but no-one's denying that Freud and Jung were legitimate psychologists.

[ag]

I hope you realize that the manner in which you use the words "econometric research" has not been current for well over 50 years now. Would you mind, actually, using the language at least some people alive now could understand?

When did statistical empiricism become an outdated definition of econometrics?

Well, I guess you are right. If you phrase it that way, it has never been definition of econometrics

[The Mikado]

I love how half of this thread are posting 18th-19th century philosophers who are world famous and half of this thread are posting actual economists that no one has heard of. It does really show the split between popular economics and...well...economics.

[Beet]

Just look up who has the most citations on JSTOR, I guess.

[ingemann]

Nobody forced him to write The Road to Serfdom, as far as I know.

What's the problem with "the road to serfdom"? It's a relative harmless attack on planned economy. In fact if you haven't read it, read it. You will be surprise of all those wonderful citats in it, you can use to attack the right with (like's his support of the welfare state).

[buritobr]

Adam Smith
David Ricardo
Friedrich List
Karl Marx
Alfred Marshall
Joseph Schumpeter
John Maynard Keynes
Raul Prebisch
Amartya Sen
Paul Krugman

[Gustaf]

Unclear how to define greatest (goodness or impact, etc). Avoiding those still active and going for influence in the past, maybe something like

Samuelsson
Keynes
Friedman
Lucas
Ricardo
Marshall
Becker
Smith
Schumpeter
Hayek

In no particular order. But as AG points out this is probably influenced by one's exposure.

[© tweed]

Just look up who has the most citations on JSTOR, I guess.

Google produces a number of such lists to look at.  Stiglitz is the only name that shows up that I recognize.