406) Minibiografias de economistas

David Colander, da AEA - American Economical Association - está trabalhando num calendário de economistas, baseado em trabalho similar feito pelo economista e Prêmio Nobel George Stigler.
Abaixo uma primeira versão, obviamente incompleta.


Thorstein Veblen (July 30, 1857 – August 3, 1929) studied under John Bates Clark as an undergraduate at Carleton College. As a founder of the institutional economics movement, he developed an evolutionary theory of economics driven by the human instincts of emulation and predation, and coined the term “conspicuous consumption.” His writings include Theory of the Leisure Class (1899), The Engineers and the Price System (1921), and "Why is Economics Not an Evolutionary Science?" (1898). When offered the presidency of the AEA, he declined.

Alfred Marshall (July 26, 1842--July 13, 1924) was a British economist, whose famous textbook combined older classical school ideas with marginalist economics, forming the foundation of traditional micro economic analysis. He saw supply and demand as an “engine of analysis” to be used in conjunction with an intuitive understanding of the economy. His most important writing is Principles of Economics (1890) which went through numerous editions while popularizing the partial equilibrium supply/demand framework.

Friedrich August von Hayek (May 8, 1899 – March 23, 1992) was an Austrian economist and philosopher who envisioned the economy as a complex system. He believed that economic analysis had to go far beyond analytic models to be useful, and was an eloquent defender of laissez-faire capitalism. His writings include The Road to Serfdom (1944) and Law, Legislation and Liberty (1973, 1976, and 1979). He was awarded the 1974 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics.

Milton Friedman (July 31, 1912 – November 16, 2006) was a University of Chicago economist who advocated the advantages of free competitive markets and helped develop monetarism. He was influential in conceptualizing the permanent income hypothesis, the natural rate of unemployment, and positive economics. His writings include A Monetary History of the United States (with Anna Schwartz) (1971) and Capitalism and Freedom (1962). He was awarded the 1951 John Bates Clark Medal, and the 1976 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics. He was president of the AEA in 1967.

Irving Fisher (February 27, 1867 – April 29, 1947) was a Yale mathematical economist who contributed to the quantity theory of money, capital theory, interest rate theory, and index number theory. He promoted the distinction between real and nominal interest rates, and developed the concept of money illusion. His writings include Mathematical Investigations in the Theory of Value and Prices (1892), The Making of Index Numbers (1922), and The Theory of Interest (1930). He was president of the AEA in 1918.

George Joseph Stigler (January 17, 1911 – December 1, 1991) was a University of Chicago economist who developed search theory, and avidly criticized government regulation, arguing that people use regulation for personal gain rather than for the general good. His writings include "Information in the Labor Market" (1962), The Citizen and the State: Essays on Economic Regulation (1975), and The Theory of Price (1942). He was a founder of the Mont Pelerin Society, and won the 1982 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics. He was president of the AEA in 1964.

Richard Theodore Ely (April 13, 1854 – October 4, 1943), a University of Wisconsin economist, was one of the founders of the American Economic Association, which was spawned by progressive American economists who tended to support the German historical school’s approach to activist government policy. His writings include Labor Movement in America (1886) and Monopolies and Trusts 1900). He was secretary of the AEA from 1885 to 1892, and president from 1900 to 1901.

Joan Robinson (October 31, 1903 – August 5, 1983 ) was a British economist who made wide-ranging and provocative contributions to economic theory. Her early work was on economic theory and imperfect competition, but she later wrote about capital theory, Marxist economics, growth theory and macroeconomics. Her writings include The Economics of Imperfect Competition (1933), in which she coined the term monopsony, and Accumulation of Capital (1956), which expands Keynesianism into the long-run.

Joseph Schumpeter (February 8, 1883 – January 8, 1950) was a Harvard economist whose work emphasized the role of entrepreneurship, business cycles, and economic development. Originally at the University of Bonn, he was one of many émigré economists who strengthened and fundamentally changed the American economics profession. His writings include the classic Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy (1942) and History of Economic Analysis, (published posthumously in 1954, edited by Elisabeth Boody Schumpeter).

John von Neumann (December 28, 1903 – February 8, 1957) was a Princeton mathematician who made significant contributions to mathematics, physics, and operations research, as well as to economics. Together with Oskar Morgenstern, von Neumann pioneered game theory, which he saw as the mathematics of social science, developing the famous minimax strategy and inventing backward induction. He co-authored, with Oskar Morgenstern, the classic Theory of Games and Economic Behavior (1944).

Francis Edgeworth (February 8, 1845 – February 13, 1926) was a British mathematical economist who made significant contributions to neoclassical economic theory and statistical work. He introduced indifference curves and of course contributed to the famous Edgeworth-Bowley box. He was the founding editor of The Economic Journal in 1891, and continued as editor for 35 years. In his most famous book, Mathematical Psychics: An Essay on the Application of Mathematics to the Moral Sciences (1881), he developed a precursor to the economic theory of “the core.”

Karl Marx (May 5, 1818 – March 14, 1883) was a philosopher and political economist who used classical economic theory to critique capitalism. He argued that markets alienate individuals from their true selves, and that capitalists extract surplus value from human labor. His ideas have inspired many to advocate for revolutionary political change aimed at upsetting capitalism and reducing the gap in wealth enjoyed by the rich and the poor. His writings include Das Kapital (1867), Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts of 1844 (1932), and Manifesto of the Communist Party (with Friedrick Engles) (1848).

John Maynard Keynes (June 5, 1883 – April 21, 1946) was a British economist whose work during the Great Depression significantly influenced government policy toward business cycles, and led to a separate field of macroeconomics. He emphasized the complexity and uncertainty inherent in the aggregate economy, and advocated a pragmatic rather than dogmatic approach to policy. Among his major writings are: The Economic Consequences of the Peace (1919), The Treatise on Money (1930), and The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money (1936).

David Ricardo (April 18, 1772 – September 11, 1823) systematized classical economics and introduced formal modeling to economics. He became interested in economics after reading The Wealth of Nations at age 27. He was a member of the British Parliament and an avid opponent of protectionism. His fundamental contribution to economics is the theory of comparative advantage, which he described in On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation (1817). Ricardo also developed the concept of economic rent.

John Stuart Mill (May 20, 1806 – May 8, 1873) was a British economist who addressed the limits of the power that can be legitimately exercised by society over individuals in his treatise On Liberty (1859). He argued that individuals should retain liberty unless their actions cause negative externalities. His Principles of Political Economy (1848) was the standard text in economics at Oxford until 1919, when it was replaced by Marshall’s Principles. While a member of the British Parliament from 1865 to 1868, Mill was the first MP to call for giving women the right to vote.

Adam Smith (June 5, 1723 – July 17, 1790]) was a Scottish economist and philosopher who developed a theory of moral sentiments, and explained how rational self-interest and competition lead to economic prosperity. He wrote The Theory of Moral Sentiments (1759), in which he first describes “the invisible hand,” and An Inquiry into the Nature and Wealth of Nations (1776), where that invisible hand, rather than their benevolence, is said to guide the self-interest of “the butcher, the brewer, or the baker” to serve society’s broad interests. Smith is also famous for recognizing the value of the division of labor.

Thomas Malthus (February 13, 1766 – December 23, 1834 was a British economist who argued that absent checks from misery, vice, or moral restraint (sexual abstinence), a geometrically growing population would outstrip an arithmetically expanding food supply, eventually leading to catastrophic famine. In later writing, however, he deviated from such predictions. His work on population dynamics influenced Darwin and led to what became known as the Malthusian Doctrine that predicted decreasing standards of living. His magnum opus is An Essay on the Principle of Population (1798).

Leon Walras (December 16, 1834 - January 5, 1910) was a French economist whose work contributed to both the marginalist revolution and the creation of general equilibrium theory. He developed a theory of marginal utility three years later, but independently of William Stanley Jevons and Carl Menger. His most important work is Elements of Pure Economics, (1874, 1877), in which he developed the first comprehensive mathematical analysis of general economic equilibrium.

Um outro economista participante da mesma lista, History of Economics, acrescentou isto:

Perhaps Marx' significance in the history of economics can be
described more accurately by giving the defining characteristics of
his thought. For instance:

Karl Marx (May 5, 1818 - March 14, 1883) was a philosopher whose project was the construction of a system of Practical Philosophy the foundation of which was Political Economy. Marx constructed his system by the critical revision of the Economic Thought previous to him from the standpoint of Hegelian Dialectics. His system of Political Economy can thus be labeled "Dialectical Economics". Marx is the most widely cited thinker of the Hegelian tradition in Economics. His ideas have inspired many to advocate for revolutionary political change. His writings include Das Kapital (1867), Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts of 1844(1932), and Manifesto of the Communist Party (with Friedrich Engels)(1848).

Kepa Ormazabal