Ask Dr. Econ

December 2005

Who is the best known economist from the 1850s?

Now that’s a question that might lead to a provocative discussion!

Let’s get you started on your research with a short visit to the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco’s Educational Resources Website. Under the Publications banner on this page you will find a link to:

Great Economists and Their Times

The “Great Economists” Website features:

• A list of several famous economists (all deceased prior to 1950),
• Descriptions of major historical schools of economic thought, and
• An economic timeline from 1730 to 1990.

Your choices from the Great Economists list who were active studying and writing about economics in the 1850s is limited to a small group, but it is a stellar one:

John Stuart Mill

England, 1806-1873

The last of the great economists of the Classical School, he denied the doctrine that society could not alter the existing distribution of income.

[See Classical School]

Karl Marx

Germany, 1818-1883

Intellectual father of modern day Marxist economics, he predicted that capitalism would be ultimately destroyed by its own inherent contradictions.

[See Marxist School]

Walras, on the left with Marshall and Veblen

Leon Walras

France, 1834-1910

He revolutionized economics with his rigorous mathematical formulation of the mechanics of the price system.

Finally, although he died in 1823, another 19th Century Classical economist whose work made a significant contribution to economic literature during the period was David Ricardo.

Ricardo, on the left, with Malthus

David Ricardo

England, 1772-1823

His theory that landlords enriched themselves at the expense of society led him to campaign tirelessly in Parliament and in print for free trade.

Great Economists and Their Times also highlights the following famous early economists: Adam Smith (1723-1791) and Thomas Malthus (1766-1834), and well-known later economists, Alfred Marshall (1842-1924), Thorstein Veblen (1857-1929), John Maynard Keynes (1883-1946), and Irving Fisher (1867-1947).

References (as of April 2006)