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Students and teachers of economics

Featured Individuals

Notable Individuals

Other Individuals

  • Anderson, Benjamin M. (1886-1949) - 19th/20th century American economist of the Austrian School
  • Burns, Arthur F. (1904-1987) - American economist, chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (1970-1978)
  • Dunoyer, Charles (1786-1862) - French economist, co-founder of Le Censeur
  • Heyne, Paul (1931-2000) - American economist, author of The Economic Way of Thinking (1973)
  • Keynes, John Maynard (1883-1946) - English economist, author of The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money
  • Wieser, Friedrich von (1851-1926) - Austrian economist, followed Carl Menger as professor at the University of Vienna

Articles

The Myth of the Rational Voter, by Bryan Caplan, Cato Unbound, 6 Nov 2006
Posits that voters mistaken beliefs, in particular about economics, do not "cancel each other out" but instead they compound; lead essay of forum on "Majority Fools: Irrationality and the Limits of Democracy"
From the time of Adam Smith, if not earlier, economists have complained that economic policy was based on misconceptions, and tried to make a difference by correcting their students' prejudices against markets, international trade, and so on. Economists preserve this tradition to this day when they teach undergraduates, write for popular audiences, or talk amongst themselves ... [W]hen economists get the public's ear, they should not bore them with the details of national income statistics ... They should challenge the public's misconceptions about markets, foreigners, saving labor, and progress.
UpdWhy Intellectuals Still Support Socialism, by Peter G. Klein, Mises Daily, 15 Nov 2006
Examines the underlying reasons why so many academics support socialist ideas, not reflecting those of the general population, and how this changed from the mid-20th century
Even in ... economics, 63 percent of the faculty in the Carnegie study identified themselves as liberal, compared with 72 percent in anthropology ... The Cardiff and Klein study finds an average D:R ratio in economics departments of 2.8:1—lower than the sociologists' 44:1, to be sure, but higher than that of ... engineering ... and finance. A survey of American Economic Association members ... finds that most economists support safety regulations, gun control, redistribution, public schooling, and anti-discrimination laws ... The US federal government employs at least 3,000 economists ...

Interviews

Interview with James Buchanan, by James M. Buchanan, The Region, Sep 1995
Topics include The Calculus of Consent, public choice theory, monetary policy and the Federal Reserve
Buchanan: ... Economists traditionally have been much more pro-market and anti- politics, anti-government than the other parts of the Academy in general. But throughout the decades economists have been frustrated by the fact that they put their ideas out there and nobody pays any attention. Economists have found you can't go out there and sell the idea of a market economy very readily. You have to be sophisticated to understand it. It's difficult to sell the idea of a market economy, so economists haven't been very effective.

Books

What Do Economists Contribute?
    by Daniel B. Klein (editor), Cato Institute, 1999
Partial contents: On the Role of Values in the Work of Economists - Economists and Public Policy - On the Decline of Authority of Economists - 'Realism' in Policy Espousal - How To Do Well While Doing Good! - The Common Weal and Economic Stories