Business cycles

Scholars from all over the world contributes to the rich variety of economic thinking. Twenty-first century economics will be completely different from what has been economics in the previous centuries. However, it's useful to look back at the giants of the past and the most innovative traits of their thoughts.

Ranked by votes received in a poll of 1249 subscribers to the Post-autistic economics review, promoting pluralism and empirical relevance in economics.

Subscribers to this journal were asked:

Who were the greatest economists of the 20th-Century?

“Greatest” here means not who most influenced the economics profession or ideology, but rather who most added to our understanding of economic phenomena.

The numbers after the name are the votes, with first choice credited with five votes, the second choice with four, the third with three, the fourth with two and the fifth with one.

2. Joseph Alois Schumpeter 1,080

3. John Kenneth Galbraith 904

4. Amartya Sen 708

5. Joan Robinson 607

6. Thorstein Veblen 591

7. Michal Kalecki 481

8. Friedrich Hayek 469

9. Karl Polanyi 456

10. Piero Sraffa 383

11. Joseph Stiglitz 333

12. Kenneth Arrow 320

13. Milton Friedman 319

13. Paul Samuelson 319

15. Paul Sweezy 268

16. Herman Daly 267

17. Herbert Simon 250

18. Ronald Coase 246

19. Gunnar Myrdal 216

20. Alfred Marshall 211

21. Albert Hirschmann 208

22. Nicholoas Georgescu-Roegen 205

23. Kenneth Boulding 174

24. Wassily Leontief 153

25. Nicholas Kaldor 141

26. Douglas North 138

27. Raul Prebisch 102

28. John Hicks 97

29. Ernest Mandel 87

30. Ludwig von Mises 78

31. John R.Commons 76

32. Richard R.Nelson 72

33. George Akerlof 71

34. E. F. Schumacher 67

35. Paul Krugman 64

36. Daniel Kahneman 60

37. Gary Becker 58

38. Robert Heilbroner 57

39. Hyman Minsky 54

40. Thomas Schelling 53

41. Arthur Lewis 52

42. John Nash 51

43. Samir Amin 49

43. James Buchanan 49

45. Celso Furtado 48

45. John von Neuman 48

47. Irving Fisher 43

48. Jan Tinbergen 42

49. Maurice Dobb 41

49. Simon Kuznets 41

51. Robert Solow 40

52. Michel Aglietta 38

52. Nancy Folbre 38

54. Silvio Gesell 37

54. Rosa Luxemburg 37

56. Vladimir Lenin 36

57. Vernon Smith 35

58. Mason Gaffney 34

59. Robert Lucas 32

59. Oliver Williamson 32

61. Paul Baran 31

62. François Perroux 28

63. George Shackle 27

63. Rudolf Steiner 27

63. James Tobin 27

66. Luigi Passinetti 26

67. Brian Arthur 24

67. Deirdre McCloskey 24

67. Tony Lawson 24

70. Clarence Ayres 23

70. Knut Wicksell 23

72. Mancur Olson 22

72. Maurice Allais 22

72. Ha-Joon Chang 22

72. Christopher Freeman 22

72. Max Weber 22

78. Hernando de Soto 21

78. Samuel Bowles 20

78. George Stigler 20

78. Anwar Shaikh 20

78. Amos Tversky 20

82. Geoffrey Hodgson 19

82. Frank Knight 19

82. Vilfredo Pareto 19

82. Lance Taylor 19

86. Andre Gunder Frank 18

86. Immanuel Wallerstein 18

88. Louis O. Kelso 17

88. Janos Kornai 17

90. Robert Boyer 16

90. Paul Davidson 16

90. William Kapp 16

90. Abba Lerner 16

94. William Baumol 15

94. Diane Elson 15

94. Pierangelo Garegnani 15

94. Roy Harrod 15

94. Franco Modigliani 15

94. Richard Thaler 15

94. William Vickrey 15

Douglas, C. H. 14

Lipietz, Alain 14

Rifkin, Jeremy 13

Alchian, Armen 12

Gordon, David M. 12

Rawles, John 12

Robertson, James 12

Fine, Ben 11

Illich, Ivan 11

Innis, Harold 11

Morgenstern, Oskar 11

Omerod, Paul 11

Penrose, Edith 11

Reid, Margaret 11

Bourdieu, Pierre 10

Chandler, Alfred D. 10

Debreu, Gérard 10

Hobson, John A. 10

Leijonhufvud, Axel 10

Lietaer, Bernard 10

Meidner, Rudolf 10

Neef, Manfred Max 10

Pigou, A. C. 10

Braudel, Ferdand 9

Braverman, Harry 9

Bukharin, N. 9

Del Mar, Alexander 9

Frank, Robert H. 9

Harvey, David 9

Kahneman and Tversky 9

Lowe, Adolph 9

Mensch, Gerhard 9

Odum, Howard T. 9

Ramsey, Frank 9

Romer, Paul 9

Sombart, W. 9

Waring, Marilyn 9

Binswanger, Hans-Christoph 8

Boratav, Korkut 8

Camerer, Colin F. 8

Emmanuel, Arghiri 8

Naredo, Jose Manuel 8

Patnaik, Prabhat 8

Shiller, Robert 8

Tullock, Gordon 8

Becker, Arthur 7

Costanza, Robert 7

Dow, Sheila C. 7

Forrester, Jay Wright 7

Grossman, Hewnryk 7

Hilferding, Rudolf 7

Jacobs, Jane 7

Korten, David 7

Means, Gardiner 7

Schmoller, Gustav von 7

Scitovsky, Tibor 7

Trotsky, Leon 7

Wolfe, Richard 7

Amsden, Alice 6

Axelrod, Robert 6

Barr, Nicholas 6

Beneria, Lourdes 6

Chamberlain, Edward 6

Coyle, Eugene 6

Eucken, Walter 6

Gandhi, Mahatma 6

Heckman, James 6

Hirshelifer, Jack 6

Hotelling, Harold 6

Kindleberger, Charles 6

Kondratieff, N. D. 6

Lachmann, Ludwig 6

Lange, Oskar 6

Learner, Edward 6

Levitt, Steven D. 6

Loasby, Brian 6

Marglin, Steven 6

Selten, Reinhard 6

Soddy, Frederick 6

Streeten, Paul 6

Tideman, Nicolaus 6

Tirole, Jean 6

Agarwal, Bina 5

Beveridge, William 5

Blanchard, Olivier 5

Boushey, Heather 5

Brown, Harry Gunnison 5

Budd, Christopher Houghton 5

Cains, J. M. 5

Calvert, Josep Gonzalez 5

Capra, Fritjof 5

Castoriadis, Cornelius 5

Chapra, Muhammad Umer 5

Cheung, Steven N. S. 5

Chick, Victoria 5

Clark, John Maurice 5

Creutz, Helmut 5

Demsetz, Harold 5

Dosi, Giovanni 5

Drucker, Peter F. 5

Edgar Morin 5

Erbakan, Necmettin 5

Faletto, Enzo 5

Flammang, Bob 5

Fogel, Bob 5

Frisch, Ragnar 5

Girard, Rene 5

Granovetter, Mark 5

Hardin, Garret 5

Harman, Chris 5

Harrison, Fred 5

Harvery, Dick 5

Hueting, Roefie 5

Javaid, Tariq 5

Jones, Ronald W. 5

Keen, Steve 5

Keynes, John Neville 5

Leibenstein, H. 5

Lonergan, Bernard 5

Maddison, Angus 5

Metcalfe, Stanley 5

Mies, Maria 5

Mitchell, W. C. 5

Montagne, Mike 5

Nader, Sebastian 5

Offe, Claus 5

Ohlin, Bertil 5

Orléan, André 5

Passet, René 5

Prechter, Robert 5

Prescott, Edward C. 5

Reich, Michael 5

Repetto, R. 5

Roth, Alvin 5

Rothbard, M. N. 5

Samuels, Warren 5

Schmaller, Gustav 5

Schultz, T. W. 5

Shearman, Thomas G. 5

Stretton, Hugh 5

Theil, H. 5

Viner, Jacob 5

Wallace, Henry A. 5

Walz, Richard 5

Werner, Richard 5

Yat-sen Sun 5

Ahmad, Khurshed 4

Akyüz, Yilmaz 4

Alier, Joan Martinez 4

Andrews, Philip W. S. 4

Aoki, M. 4

Arendty, Hannah 4

Azid, Toseef 4

Bairoch, Paul 4

Baker, Dean 4

Besley, Tim 4

Biesecker, Adelheid 4

Blaug, Mark 4

Brenner, Robert, 4

Bromley, Daniel 4

Chesterton, G. K. 4

Clark, Charles M. A. 4

Cole, G. D. H. 4

Coyle, Diane 4

de Dios, Emmanuel 4

Dornbusch 4

Douthwaite, Richard 4

Edgeworth, Francis Ysidro 4

Elliot, Ralph N. 4

England, Sue 4

Gans, Herbert J. 4

Giannetti da Fonseca, Eduardo 4

Godley, Wynne 4

Goodwin, Richard 4

Goudzwaard, Bob 4

Granger, Clive W. J. 4

Grassman, Sven 4

Habermas, Jurgen 4

Hale, Robert 4

Hamilton, Clive 4

Haq, Mehbubal 4

Harcourt, Geoff 4

Horvat, Branko 4

Hotson, John 4

Kabeer, Naila 4

Kirzner, Israel 4

Koopmans, Tjalling 4

Kropotkin, Peter 4

Lall, Sanjaya 8/2

Langholm, Odd 4

Machlup, Fritz 4

Maclaren, Leon 4

Malinvaud, Edmond 4

Manning, Alan 4

Markowitz, Harry M. 4

McLaren, Leon 4

Meade, James 4

Mitchell, Timothy 4

Nell, Edward 4

Piore, Michael 4

Prigogine, Illia 4

Proudhon, Pierre-Joseph 4

Rehn, Gösta 4

Rodrik, Dani 4

Sachs, Ignacy 4

Sapir, Jacques 4

Sargent, Thomas J. 4

Schneider, Erich 4

Shiva, Vandana 4

Sieferle, Rolf Peter 4

Singh, Ajit 4

Sönmez, Tayfun 4

Spengler, Oswald 4

Stanford, Jim 4

Steindl, Josef 4

Temin, Peter 4

Thévenot, Laurent 4

Villegas, Bernardo M. 4

Walker, Karl 4

Waters, William R. 4

Wieser, Friedrich Von 4

Zellner, Arnold 4

Ziegler, Jean 4

Ahmad, Eatzaz 3

Albert, Michael 3

Alexander, Ester 3

Arrighi, Giovanni 3

Belloc, Hilaire 3

Bernanke, Ben 3

Beuys, Joseph 3

Cassel, Gustar 3

Chayanov, Alexander 3

David, Paul 3

de Groot, R. 3

Dempsey, Bernard 3

Dervis, Kemal 3

Domar, Evsey 3

Douglas, Paul 3

Dumenil, Gerard 3

Dupuy, Jean-Pierre 3

Etxezarreta, Miren, 3

Favereau, Olivier 3

Ffrench-Davis, Ricardo 3

Foster, John 3

Frey, Bruno S. 3

Garay, Jorge 3

George Dantzig 3

Gilman, Charlotte Perkins 3

Gramsci, Antonio 3

Graziani, Agusto 3

Harsanyi, John 3

Hartman, Heidi 3

Hausman, Daniel 3

Heckscher and Ohlin 3

Hudson, Michael 3

Isard, Walter 3

Kanbur, Ravi 3

King, Steve 3

Klein, Lawrence 3

Kohr, Leopold 3

Krehm, William 3

Lebowitz, Michael 3

Lev. B. 3

Linton, Michael 3

Max-Neef, Manfred 3

McFadden, Daniel 3

Mellor, Kohn 3

Mintzberg, Henry 3

Mishan, Ezra J. 3

Mueller, Adam 3

Nearing, Scott 3

Nelson, Julie 3

Neurath, Otto 3

Okun, Arthur 3

Perez, Carlota 6/2

Pesch, Heinrich, 3

Phelps, Edmund 3

Piven 3

Preobrazhensky, Evgenii 3

Richardson, George B. 3

Roepke, Wilhelm 3

Rosenberg, Nathan 3

Rothschild, Kurt 3

Sahlins, Marshall 3

Scherhorz, Gerhard 3

Senf, Bernard 3

Sertel, Murat 3

Singer, Hans 3

Singer, Paul 3

Spence, Michael 3

Stoiglitz, Josephy 3

Sugden, Robert 3

Toledo, Victor 3

Triffin, Robert 3

von Stackelberg, Heinrich 3

Walters, Alan 3

Wigforss, Ernst 3

Wright, Robert 3

Albelda, Randy 2

Atkinson, Anthony B. 2

Balogh, Thomas 2

Bataille, George 2

Batra, Ravi 2

Bauer, Peter Thomas 2

Becker, Joseph M. 2

Berners-Lee, Tim 2

Bofinger, Peter 2

Bohm-Bawerk, Eugen 2

Boisguillebert, Pierre 2

Boserup, Ester 2

Brentano, Lujo 2

Chakravarty, Sukhamoy 2

Chipman, John 2

Chomsky, Noam 2

Cleaver, Harry 2

Cleveland, Polly 2

Cobb, Clifford 2

Cooley, Charles Horton 2

Dasgupta, Partha 2

Diaz-Alejandro, Carlos 2

Dixit, Avinash 2

Douglas, Major 2

Dugger, William 2

Dunlop, John 2

Dunning, John 2

Durkheim, Emile 2

Easterlin, R. 2

Elsenhans, Hartmut 2

Etzioni, Amital 2

Fehr, Ernst 2

Fingleton, Eamonn 2

Fisher, A. G. B. 2

Fujita, Masahisa 2

Greespan, Alan 2

Grilliches, Zvi 2

Haavelmo, Tyrgve 2

Hahn, Frank 2

Handerson, Hazel 2

Harberger, Al 2

Henwood, Doug 2

Heyman, Daniel 2

Hofstede, Geert 2

Jacobs, Michael 2

Jensen, Michael 2

Klink, Federico Aguilera 2

Knapp, Georg Friedrich 2

Laffer, Arthur 2

Lancaster, Kelvin 2

Laspeyres, Etienne 2

Levy, David M. 2

Luenberger, David 2

Madrick, Jeff 2

Mandelbrot, Benoit 2

Marchetti, Cesar 2

Marschak, Jacob 2

Martinez-Alier, Joan 2

Matthews, Race 2

Mauss, Marcel 2

McGillivray, Mark 2

McKinnon, R. J. 2

Miller, Merton 2

Müller-Armack, Alfred 2

O’Connor, James 2

Olivera, Julio 2

Perelman, Michael 2

Pérez, Jose Maneul Naredo 2

Porter, Michael 2

Resnick, Stephen A. 2

Robbins, Lionel 2

Robertson, Dennis 2

Rostow, Walter 2

Sachs, J. 2

Salais, Robert 2

Simon, Henry 2

Thurow, Lester C. 2

Tugan-Baranovsky 2

Ul-Haq, Mahbub 2

Ulrich, Hans 2

Unterguggenberger, Michael 2

Varian, Hal 2

Vogt, Winfrid 2

Andelsen, Robert 1

Anielski, Mark 1

Aydalot, Philippe 1

Batifoulier, Philippe 1

Berle, Adolf 1

Bradford 1

Breton, Andre 1

Cardoso, Fernando Henrique 1

Carpenter, John 1

Coddington, Alan 1

Coleman 1

Collander, David 1

Cramp, Tony 1

Dantzig, G. E. 1

Davenport, Herbert J. 1

De Bernis, Gerard 1

DeLong, Brad 1

Diamond, Jared 1

Dreaze, Jean 1

Duchin, Fay 1

Earl, Peter 1

Eichengreen 1

Eichner, Alfred 1

Esping Andersen, G. 1

Fogan, Elmer Daniel 1

Forrester, Viviane 1

Fromm, Erich 1

Fusfeld, Daniel R. 1

Garnaut, Ross 1

George, Susan 1

Gibson-Graham, J. K. 1

Gintis, Herbert 1

Gittins, Ross 1

Glucksmann, Miriam 1

Gold, Bela 1

Gomez, Peter 1

Grandmont, Jean-Michel 1

Greider, William 1

Grubler, Arnulf 1

Hutton, Will 1

Hymer, Stephen H. 1

Kardelj, Eduard 1

Konishita, Toshiko 1

Krueger, Alan 1

Kuron, Jack 1

Labini, Paolo Sylos 1

Larsson 1

Lavoie, Don 1

Leguiza, Jesus 1

Lindbäck, Assar 1

Loewenstein, George 1

Lovelock, James 1

Malthus, Thomas 1

Marris, Robin 1

Meadow, Donella 1

Milgrom, Paul 1

Mirowski, Philip 1

Musgrave, Richard A. 1

Ostrom, Elinor 1

Parquez, Alain 1

Patnaik, Utsa 1

Pavitt, Keith 1

Philips, A. W. 1

Pietranera, Giulio 1

Pilzer, P. 1

Pindyck, Robert S. 1

Pollin, Robert 1

Posner, Richard 1

Riese, Hajo 1

Roscher, Wilhelm 1

Sam Bowles and Herb Gintis 1

Sawyer, Maleolm 1

Seldon, Arthur 1

Sequin, Paul 1

Sharpe, W. 1

Shilling, Gary 1

Shuman, Michael 1

Simkin. C. G. 1

Sims, Christopher 1

Smith, J. W. 1

Strange, Susan 1

Stutzer, Alois 1

Tatnaik, Prabbat 1

Tawney, R. H. 1

Thenardier, Michel 1

Therborn, Göran 1

Theret, Bruno 1

Tool, Marc R. 1

Torvalds, Linus 1

Umbeck, John 1

Wetzel, Dave 1

Williamson, J. 1

Young, A. 1

Yunus, Muhammad 1

Robin, Hahnel 1

These results are taken from n. 36 of the Review (24 February 2006).