PEOPLE KNOWN FOR: economics
Scottish philosopher
Adam Smith was a Scottish social philosopher and political economist, instrumental in the rise of classical liberalism. Adam Smith is a towering figure in the history of economic thought. Known primarily...
British economist
F.A. Hayek was an Austrian-born British economist noted for his criticisms of the Keynesian welfare state and of totalitarian socialism. In 1974 he shared the Nobel Prize for Economics with Swedish economist...
German sociologist
Max Weber was a German sociologist and political economist best known for his thesis of the “Protestant ethic,” relating Protestantism to capitalism, and for his ideas on bureaucracy. Weber was the eldest...
German philosopher
Friedrich Engels was a German socialist philosopher, the closest collaborator of Karl Marx in the foundation of modern communism. They coauthored The Communist Manifesto (1848), and Engels edited the second...
president of Côte d’Ivoire
Alassane Ouattara is an Ivoirian economist and politician who was elected president of Côte d’Ivoire in 2010. Despite Ouattara’s victory, the incumbent, Laurent Gbagbo, refused to step down, and the two...
American economist, former treasury secretary
Lawrence Summers was one of the main architects of U.S. economic policy in the last decade of the 20th century and the first decade of the 21st. In addition to serving as a key economic adviser to two...
president of Argentina
Javier Milei is a confrontational right-wing outsider who rose to the presidency of Argentina in 2023 on a tide of voter dissatisfaction with a political elite whom his supporters blamed for endemic hyperinflation,...
British philosopher and economist
Jeremy Bentham was an English philosopher, economist, and theoretical jurist, the earliest and chief expounder of utilitarianism. At the age of four, Bentham, the son of an attorney, is said to have read...
American economist
Milton Friedman was an American economist and educator, one of the leading proponents of monetarism in the second half of the 20th century. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Economics in 1976. (Read Milton...
Indian politician and economist
Nirmala Sitharaman (born August 18, 1959, Madurai, Tamil Nadu, India) is an Indian politician and economist who was first appointed as the minister of finance and minister of corporate affairs in the central...
prime minister of Canada
Mark Carney is a Canadian economist who became prime minister of Canada in March 2025 after he was elected leader of the Liberal Party. He had previously served as governor of the Bank of Canada from 2008...
American economist and sociologist
Thorstein Veblen was an American economist and social scientist who sought to apply an evolutionary, dynamic approach to the study of economic institutions. With The Theory of the Leisure Class (1899)...
president of Liberia
Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is a Liberian politician and economist who was president of Liberia (2006–18). She was the first woman to be elected head of state of an African country. Sirleaf was one of three...
German economist and engineer
For more than half a century, Klaus Schwab presided over the World Economic Forum, transforming it from a modest European business gathering into one of the most visible global stages for political, corporate,...
American economist, trade adviser
Peter Navarro is an American economist and a top trade adviser to U.S. Pres. Donald Trump. Navarro is one of Trump’s most hawkish economic aides and has advocated for a maximalist approach to imposing...
English economist and demographer
Thomas Malthus was an English economist and demographer who is best known for his theory that population growth will always tend to outrun the food supply and that betterment of humankind is impossible...
French American economist
Esther Duflo is a French-American economist who, with Abhijit Banerjee and Michael Kremer, was awarded the 2019 Nobel Prize for Economics (the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of...
American economist
Claudia Goldin is an American economist and winner of the 2023 Nobel Prize for Economics (the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel) for “having advanced our understanding...
prime minister of Italy
Mario Draghi is an Italian economist who served from 2011 to 2019 as president of the European Central Bank (ECB), the financial institution responsible for making monetary decisions within the eurozone,...
British economist
John Maynard Keynes was an English economist, journalist, and financier best known for his economic theories (Keynesian economics) on the causes of prolonged unemployment. His most important work, The...
Ghanaian economist, banker, and politician
Mahamudu Bawumia is a Ghanian economist, banker, and politician affiliated with the New Patriotic Party (NPP). He served as vice president of Ghana from 2017 until 2025. Bawumia was a candidate in the...
British economist
David Ricardo was an English economist who gave systematized, classical form to the rising science of economics in the 19th century. His laissez-faire doctrines were typified in his Iron Law of Wages,...
American economist
Michael Kremer is an American economist who, with Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo, was awarded the 2019 Nobel Prize for Economics (the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred...
American economist, economic historian, and political commentator
Thomas Sowell is an American economist and social commentator and also one of the leading intellectual figures of Black conservatism. A prolific writer, he has authored more than 40 books, and for many...
American economist
Ben Bernanke is an American economist who served as chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (“the Fed”), the central bank of the United States, from 2006 to 2014. In 2022 he and...
British economist and journalist
Walter Bagehot was an economist, political analyst, and editor of The Economist who was one of the most influential journalists of the mid-Victorian period. His father’s family had been general merchants...
Italian criminologist
Cesare Beccaria was an Italian criminologist and economist whose Dei delitti e delle pene (1764; Eng. trans. J.A. Farrer, Crimes and Punishment, 1880) was a celebrated volume on the reform of criminal...
French lawyer and politician
Christine Lagarde is a French lawyer and politician who was the first woman to serve as France’s finance minister (2007–11), as the managing director of the International Monetary Fund (2011–19), and as...
French bishop, scholar, and economist
Nicholas Oresme was a French Roman Catholic bishop, scholastic philosopher, economist, and mathematician whose work provided some basis for the development of modern mathematics and science and of French...
American economist
Kevin Allen Hassett is a leading conservative economist who has advised prominent Republican politicians and policymakers for much of the early 21st century. He held senior economic roles in both administrations...
Argentine economist and statesman
Raúl Prebisch was an Argentine economist and statesman and a leading figure in Latin American structuralism. He served in various positions in Argentine government and academia and advised developing countries...
American economist
Richard Thaler is an American economist who was awarded the 2017 Nobel Prize for Economics for his contributions to behavioral economics, a field of microeconomics that applies the findings of psychology...
Indian-born American economist
Abhijit Banerjee is an Indian-born American economist who, with Esther Duflo and Michael Kremer, was awarded the 2019 Nobel Prize for Economics (the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory...
Turkish-American economist
Daron Acemoglu is a Turkish-American economist and winner, with Simon Johnson and James A. Robinson, of the 2024 Nobel Prize for Economics (the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of...
American economist
Paul Milgrom is an American economist who, with Robert Wilson, was awarded the 2020 Nobel Prize for Economics (the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel) for his contributions...
Canadian-American economist
David Card Canadian-American economist who was awarded one-half of the 2021 Nobel Prize for Economics (the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel) “for his empirical contributions...
American economist
Simon Johnson is an English-American economist and winner, with Daron Acemoglu and James A. Robinson, of the 2024 Nobel Prize for Economics (the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of...
Bulgarian economist
Kristalina Georgieva (born August 13, 1953, Sofia, Bulgaria) is a Bulgarian economist and the leader of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). When she took the position in 2019, she was the first person...
French economist
Anne-Robert-Jacques Turgot, baron de l’Aulne was a French economist who was an administrator under Louis XV and served as the comptroller general of finance (1774–76) under Louis XVI. His efforts at instituting...
French economist
Philippe Aghion (born August 17, 1956, Paris, France) is a French economist whose research on innovation, competition, and economic growth has helped redefine how economists understand the role of technological...
American economist
Alan Greenspan was an American economist and chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System from 1987–2006, spanning the administrations of four U.S. presidents. At age 5, Greenspan demonstrated...
American-Israeli economic historian
Joel Mokyr (born July 26, 1946, Leiden, the Netherlands) is an American-Israeli economic historian and winner, with Philippe Aghion and Peter Howitt, of the 2025 Nobel Prize for Economics (officially the...
president of Germany
Horst Köhler was a German economist and politician who served as managing director of the International Monetary Fund (2000–04) and as president of Germany (2004–10). Horst also was Germany’s lead official...
Scottish philosopher, historian, and economist
James Mill was a Scottish philosopher, historian, and economist. He was prominent as a representative of philosophical radicalism, a school of thought also known as Utilitarianism, which emphasized the...
American economist
Michael Woodford is an American economist who shared the 2026 Nobel Prize for Economics (officially the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel) with Robert E. Hall. The...
Dutch-American economist
Guido Imbens is a Dutch-American economist who, with the Israeli-American economist Joshua Angrist, was awarded one-half of the 2021 Nobel Prize for Economics (the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences...
French economist and politician
Dominique Strauss-Kahn is a French economist and politician who served (2007–11) as the managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF)—the United Nations agency that helps maintain a stable...
American economist
Robert B. Wilson is an American economist who, with Paul Milgrom, was awarded the 2020 Nobel Prize for Economics (the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel) for his contributions...
Indian economist
Amartya Sen is an Indian economist who was awarded the 1998 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences for his contributions to welfare economics and social choice theory and for his interest in the problems of...
Israeli-American economist
Joshua Angrist is an Israeli-American economist who, with the Dutch-American economist Guido Imbens, was awarded one-half of the 2021 Nobel Prize for Economics (the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic...
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