8 Living Economic Thinkers You Should Know About

JM Keynes said that most of us are "the slaves of some defunct economist". Here’s a selection of LIVING economic thinkers (unorthodox, but from both Left and Right), their key book and its main idea. Drawn from my book “50 Economics Classics”.

Saifedean Ammous - The Bitcoin Standard (2018)

Civilizations progress when they have “sound” money and a reliable store of wealth. Bitcoin provides this, but for the digital age.

Ha-Joon Chang - 23 Things They Don’t Tell You About Capitalism (2012)

Most nations succeeded by bucking the rules of orthodox economics. Today's capitalism is an ideological free market variant; compared to the post-Keynesian capitalism of the 1950s -1970s it is a failure.

Stephanie Kelton - The Deficit Myth (2020)

Government deficits are not the problem. Child poverty, stagnant wages, income inequality, crumbling infrastructure, and climate change are, and governments can and should act to fix them.

Dambisa Moyo - Dead Aid (2010)

Countries grow and get rich by creating industries, not by addiction to aid. Aid is like a drug, and as with any drug, pushers and addicts find it hard to kick the habit.

Thomas Piketty - Capitalism in the Twenty-First Century (2014)

Unless governments introduce new forms of taxation and ways of increasing social mobility, we are heading for levels of income inequality not seen since the 19th century – and possible political upheaval.

Naomi Klein - The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism (2007)

‘Neoliberal’ economic programs have proved a disaster for many developing countries. If not checked by democracy, capitalism can become a coercive ideology.

Amartya Sen - Poverty and Famines (1981)

People starve not because there isn’t enough food, but because economics circumstances suddenly change. Even more important than the production of enough food is ensuring that people have access to food despite changing conditions.

Thomas Sowell - Discrimination and Disparities (2018)

The world will always be unequal, but everyone can learn from success. Disparity of outcomes does not always mean racial or social discrimination.

Also read:

https://memod.com/TomButlerBowdon/10-unorthodox-economics-their-books-and-ideas-6880

9 Unorthodox Economists - Their Books and Ideas Knowledge grows when outsiders challenge the orthodoxy, and economists are no di