Category: History of Economic Thought – LP

The second half of the 20th century was an exciting time for Economics, with developments rapidly succeeding each other as a reaction to the very different economic scenarios the world faced. This development did nothing if not speed up towards the end of the century, when different theories not only succeeded each other, but often coexisted, feeding off the breakthroughs that were being made by the different schools. In this way, the end of the century was curiously reminiscent of the first hal...

The second half of the 20th century was an exciting time for Economics, with developments rapidly succeeding each other as a reaction to the very different economic scenarios the world faced. This development did nothing if not speed up towards the end of the century, when different theories not only succeeded each other, but often coexisted, feeding off the breakthroughs that were being made by the different schools. In this way, the end of the century was curiously reminiscent of the first hal...

From the conciliatory mood of the 1940s and 1950s, where we saw how Keynesianism and Neoclassicism could fit together, we move away from the Neoclassical Synthesis and back to a determinedly ‘laissez faire’ attitude with Monetarism. This current popularises government intervention as firmly limited to guaranteeing market safeguards and intervening in the financial markets, abandoning fiscal policy. We move, therefore, into an era concerned with financial stability, where inflation becomes a firm...

John Maynard Keynes marked a hugely important turning point in the history of Economics. For the first time, Economics had become positive, allowing for differences of opinion. It was firmly a social science, not a collection of observations or ‘natural laws’ condemned to repeat their patterns ad eternum, but could be interfered with and changed. This brought about a chasm in economic thinking: differences of opinion could bring about real differences in the lives of many. This became all too ap...

Modern economics would look nothing like what they do without neoclassical economics which, for instance, implemented rigorous mathematical analysis into economics. Most of what we absolutely take for granted was discovered by the great economists of the time, and they are also responsible for providing enough of a framework to raise a century long controversy with the other great school of the 20th century. Neoclassical economics is really the birth of mathematics as an inescapable tool for con...

It is the first important school of economic thought, which included some of the best known economists of all times, as we will see. Thanks to these authors, the study of economics became more of a science, instead of just a kind of philosophy. It took place from the late 18th century to the late 19th century. First, we will learn about some relevant previous doctrines, which will help us understand were the theories of classical economists come from. Previous doctrines: Mercantilism, main econo...