Who is the best economist?

Page 1 of 5 [ 71 posts ] Go to page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 Next

Joined: 17 Dec 2005
Gender: Male
Posts: 13,157
Location: Omnipresent

06 Apr 2007, 5:46 pm

The question is as simple as it sounds. In all of human history who is the best economist to live? Do you like Adam Smith? Milton Friedman? J M Keynes? Whomever you do like, just put down their name and possibly add a reason that you do like them.

EDIT: Because I think I can create a poll after I create the subject, if we find a good number of economists that are sufficiently popular, we can create a poll to see which economists WPers like more.

skafather84
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 20 Mar 2006
Age: 41
Gender: Male
Posts: 9,848
Location: New Orleans, LA

06 Apr 2007, 6:18 pm

judging by the current state of things....the best economist is the who's been ignored.

Awesomelyglorious
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 17 Dec 2005
Gender: Male
Posts: 13,157
Location: Omnipresent

06 Apr 2007, 10:07 pm

skafather84 wrote:

judging by the current state of things....the best economist is the who's been ignored.

Well, we ignore lots and lots of economists of all beliefs so that cannot be a good statement. Not only that but the current economic state of things isn't that bad historically, one can argue that it is not great due to worries about inflation and recession, however, we do have a reasonably low unemployment rate which is below 5% last I heard, we do have significant economic growth(which although I heard it recently dropped is still higher than that found in some European nations), we still have technology growth, reasonably good financial structures as even though the stock market is currently shaky it still is not doing badly, we may have some political issues with social security and deficits but those are often more because politicians don't listen to economists period. I dunno, one could be more specific on the trend that is the evil we must worry about here though as there are a few issues that detractors of the current economic situation like to bring up.

skafather84
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 20 Mar 2006
Age: 41
Gender: Male
Posts: 9,848
Location: New Orleans, LA

06 Apr 2007, 10:21 pm

the economy is gonna retire and die off with the baby boomers because they're the policy makers and they're ensuring their future and not ours. i'm 22 going on 23....i guarantee you the guys in the senate aren't concerned about my demographic.

and my statement was more that our current economic situation sucks and is bound to crash within the next 10-15 years unless we do some serious cutting. even the comptroller general sees that and has been touring universities to speak out about it. i partially think he's going around so he can apologize for his generation being greedy selfish bastards.

article on the comptroller general's tour

Awesomelyglorious
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 17 Dec 2005
Gender: Male
Posts: 13,157
Location: Omnipresent

06 Apr 2007, 11:48 pm

skafather84 wrote:

Yes, government programs and entitlements can potentially kill the economy. I don't blame economists for this but rather politicians, most economists know the problems, most politicians ignore them. And therefore it doesn't really answer the question.

Quote:

and my statement was more that our current economic situation sucks and is bound to crash within the next 10-15 years unless we do some serious cutting. even the comptroller general sees that and has been touring universities to speak out about it. i partially think he's going around so he can apologize for his generation being greedy selfish bastards.

article on the comptroller general's tour

I'd say that it is not that the current economic situation sucks as the complaint is that future governmental spending will kill it. I'd say that rather it is the government that sucks as it threatens to in the future destroy hopes of economic prosperity. Anyway, I would say that really the issue is not that the wrong economists are being listened to but rather that politicians would promise us that candy will rain from the sky if it would help them.

Jacob_Landshire
Sea Gull

Joined: 25 Mar 2006
Gender: Male
Posts: 205

07 Apr 2007, 8:22 am

Hans-Hermann Hoppe is an interesting economist. I haven't read much of his theories but he writes sensibly.

Hoppe Wikipedia entry

Hoppe Archives

_________________
There is no reason to suppress a viewpoint unless it is true, because a false viewpoint can easily be combated with facts and logic, while the truth cannot be combated except by lies which are vulnerable to refutation.

Awesomelyglorious
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 17 Dec 2005
Gender: Male
Posts: 13,157
Location: Omnipresent

07 Apr 2007, 11:48 am

Jacob_Landshire wrote:

Hans-Hermann Hoppe is an interesting economist. I haven't read much of his theories but he writes sensibly.

Hoppe Wikipedia entry

Hoppe Archives

I have heard of him. I would probably have a greater tendency to elect one of his predecessors in his school of ideas.

GoatOnFire
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 22 Feb 2007
Age: 39
Gender: Male
Posts: 4,986
Location: Den of the ecdysiasts

07 Apr 2007, 5:39 pm

Genghis Khan.

_________________
I will befriend the friendless, help the helpless, and defeat... the feetless?

Awesomelyglorious
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 17 Dec 2005
Gender: Male
Posts: 13,157
Location: Omnipresent

07 Apr 2007, 5:55 pm

GoatOnFire wrote:

Genghis Khan.

Genghis Khan usually isn't considered an economist. He did allow for trade and did institute some tax policies, however, very rarely is this aspect of him emphasized. He is by far better remembered as a conquerer and a military tactician, very noted for his use of terror to defeat his opponents(arguably an aspect of game theory but such argument is very hard to make effectively).

GoatOnFire
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 22 Feb 2007
Age: 39
Gender: Male
Posts: 4,986
Location: Den of the ecdysiasts

07 Apr 2007, 6:08 pm

Awesomelyglorious wrote:

GoatOnFire wrote:

Genghis Khan.

Who says the best economist has to be a traditional economist? Genghis Khan killed millions of people with an army of thousands and turned a nearly destitute herding society into an empire. That's much more impressive than writing an economic theory book to me.

_________________
I will befriend the friendless, help the helpless, and defeat... the feetless?

Flagg
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 8 Nov 2006
Gender: Male
Posts: 5,399
Location: Western US

07 Apr 2007, 6:15 pm

I don't know much about economics.

Ohhh...

The guy who invented currency?

_________________
How good music and bad reasons sound when one marches against an enemy!

Awesomelyglorious
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 17 Dec 2005
Gender: Male
Posts: 13,157
Location: Omnipresent

07 Apr 2007, 6:22 pm

GoatOnFire wrote:

Well, that really has very little to do with the production, consumption, or distribution of goods or of the nature of incentives and trade-offs. Killing millions of people is a matter of military men, and turning a small herding society into an empire is a matter of conquering. Neither is really what one would typically consider to be economics. Economics may overlap some aspects of this, however, it is not what is typically believed to be economics. Now, you may be more impressed with this than economic theories and theorists, however, that does not really make a general become an economist any more than someone else being impressed with Henry Ford make him a historian.

Awesomelyglorious
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 17 Dec 2005
Gender: Male
Posts: 13,157
Location: Omnipresent

07 Apr 2007, 6:26 pm

Flagg wrote:

I don't know much about economics.

Ohhh...

The guy who invented currency?

There is no one person who invented currency that I know of, and some scholars speculate that currency is an idea that simply results from trade. I believe that economist Carl Menger talked about how cows and animals of that nature were used in past societies as a standard of trade and of taxation in his book known as the Principles of Economics which was one of the first books on marginalism. Considering that I think that many of these formations of currency were independently done, it cannot be regarded as an invention of one person. There are many famous monetary theorists though.

Fuzzy
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 30 Mar 2006
Age: 53
Gender: Male
Posts: 5,223
Location: Alberta Canada

07 Apr 2007, 6:41 pm

I can agree with Genghis being an e-khan-omist.

Awesomelyglorious
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 17 Dec 2005
Gender: Male
Posts: 13,157
Location: Omnipresent

07 Apr 2007, 6:54 pm

Fuzzy wrote:

I can agree with Genghis being an e-khan-omist.

Funny.

However, what did he really innovate within the field of economics? He was not known for economic policy but rather for military policy. His people were warriors. What would you really credit to him in the field of economics?

GoatOnFire
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 22 Feb 2007
Age: 39
Gender: Male
Posts: 4,986
Location: Den of the ecdysiasts

07 Apr 2007, 7:04 pm

Awesomelyglorious wrote:

GoatOnFire wrote:

Depends on how you look at it. The less people there are, the more there is to go around. The logistical issues with maintaining an army has very much to do with economics, and when it came to that Genghis Khan was one of the very best. Thinking typically may not be the best way to find the best economist. I said Genghis Khan mostly being the devil's advocate anyway. My true feeling is that no one really knows who the best economist is because whoever it was probably never became famous.

_________________
I will befriend the friendless, help the helpless, and defeat... the feetless?

Page 1 of 5 [ 71 posts ] Go to page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 Next

Jump to:

Who is the best economist? Post Reply New Topic

Who is the best economist?