Curated playlist
20th-century American economists
- Kevin M. MurphyIn 2023, Google's expert witness Kevin M. Murphy said Apple gets 36% of its Safari default-search revenue.
- Alvin HansenEconomist Alvin Hansen doubted Keynes at first, then embraced him. By December 1938 he was a full convert.
- Robert Lucas Jr.Robert Lucas's divorce deal gave his ex-wife half of any Nobel Prize awarded before October 31, 1995.
- Joseph StiglitzJoseph Stiglitz explained why wages stay high in recessions even when workers are desperate for jobs.
- George AkerlofGeorge Akerlof showed why good used cars can vanish from a market.
- Milton FriedmanMilton Friedman argued the Federal Reserve let the money supply shrink by one-third between 1929 and 1933.
- Paul KrugmanPaul Krugman turned to economics because psychohistory was fiction. Asimov's novels inspired him.
- Paul SamuelsonPaul Samuelson said he was born as an economist at age sixteen. It happened in a 1932 Chicago lecture on Malthus.
- James TobinJames Tobin proposed a tax on currency trading to throw sand in the wheels of speculation.
- Janet YellenJanet Yellen is the only person to have led the Fed, the White House economic advisers and the Treasury.
- Ludwig von MisesNazi troops raided Ludwig von Mises's Vienna apartment and took his papers. He was already in Geneva.
- Alan GreenspanIn October 2008, Alan Greenspan told Congress his faith in free markets had a flaw.
- Angus DeatonIn 2024, Nobel economist Angus Deaton said he had changed his mind on much of mainstream economics.
- Larry SummersLarry Summers, born Lawrence Henry Summers, was 28 years old in 1983 when Harvard gave him tenure, making him one of the youngest tenured professors in the university's history. Soon afterward, doctors diagnosed him with late-stage…
- Herbert A. SimonHerbert Simon argued that people don't pick the best option, they settle for good enough. He called it satisficing.
- Daniel KahnemanDaniel Kahneman won the 2002 economics Nobel without ever taking an economics course.
- James M. BuchananEconomist James M. Buchanan argued that politicians act from self-interest like everyone else.
- Joseph SchumpeterJoseph Schumpeter did not coin "creative destruction", the phrase he made famous. He borrowed it from Werner Sombart.
- Oliver Hart (economist)Economist Oliver Hart was called as a government expert witness in two tax cases.
- Franco ModiglianiEconomist Franco Modigliani won a student prize from Mussolini himself. Later he fled Italy and won a Nobel Prize.
- Gary BeckerEconomist Gary Becker argued that criminals are not irrational. He said they weigh the risks and rewards of a crime.
- Susan AtheyA summer job preparing computer sales bids set Susan Athey on the path to economics.
- James HeckmanAre people who join a program different from those who don't? James Heckman won a Nobel Prize for fixing that problem.
- Richard ThalerEconomist Richard Thaler played himself in the 2015 film The Big Short.
- Richard D. WolffRichard D. Wolff's father was a lawyer in Cologne, but his degree was worthless in America.
- Elinor OstromUCLA rejected Elinor Ostrom's economics application for lacking math. She later won a Nobel Prize in economics.
- Lawrence KleinLawrence Klein's model correctly predicted a postwar boom when many expected a depression.
- Claudia GoldinIn October 2023, the economist Claudia Goldin received the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences "for having advanced our understanding of women's labor market outcomes". Only two women had won the award before her. None had ever won…
- Julian SimonJulian Simon bet Paul Ehrlich that five metals would get cheaper. All five did.
- Robert J. ShillerRobert J. Shiller called the stock market a bubble in his 2000 book Irrational Exuberance. He shared a Nobel in 2013.
- Joel MokyrEconomist Joel Mokyr won half of the 2025 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences. He argues ideas drive growth.
- William BaumolEconomist William Baumol explained why string quartets keep getting pricier.