Buchholz surveys and critiques economic thought from Adam Smith's invisible hand of the 18th century to the depression-fighting ideas of the Keynesians and money supply concepts of the 20th-century monetarists. He also relates classic economic principles to such modern-day events as the fall of communism, the Asian financial meltdown and global warming. Buchholz includes plenty of anecdotes about the lives of the great economists: Karl Marx, for instance, was an unkempt slob; David Ricardo, the early 19th-century English politician and economist, was among the rare economists to get rich trading stocks; and Maynard Keynes was so homely his friends called him "Snout." Here's a lively and authoritative read for those interested in the past, present and future of economics. --Dan Ring, Amazon.com

It is about the story of brilliant economists; from Adam Smith, Malthus, Veblen, Marx, Ricardo, Marshall, Friedman, Keynes and many more. It deals with each one of these economists by giving a brief description of the era they were living in, their personal traits and background to then outline their most known theories.

I read this book in 2001 when I started my undergrad course in Economics. I thoughroughly enjoyed it and planned to read it again once I completed my degree.


Not as much as expected   November 25, 2002
 7 out of 14 found this review helpful

From the very begining of the book, a reader who has an average knowledge of history of economic thought is disappointed.
For almost 300 pages, the author runs, better than walks, by topics and "common places" concerning economist from Adam Smith onwards. There are serious omisions and some judgements that cannot be shared by almost anyone who does not agree with orthodox economic analisys.
However, it can be taken as a reasonable introduction to someone who is thinking on taking economics at the uni. Not more than that.


Excellent   April 2, 2002
 4 out of 5 found this review helpful

...the tone of this excellent breezy but informative read is certainly to the right of centre, but not so emphatically that all readers of all persuasions will find this a rewarding read...
The main objective of quickly but entertainingly describing economic thought over the past 500 odd years and clearly describing the ideas,is effortlessly acheived. For the average reader with an reasonable interest in the subject, this book is as good as you are going to find.
Thoroughly recommended


New Ideas from Dead Economists   February 16, 2002
 8 out of 8 found this review helpful

An excellent companion to economic thought

This book is an excellent source in helping to understand what is mean when people start talking about the merits of monetarist approaches to current economic problems, or the feasibility of a Keynesian welfare state. While I admit that being brought up with an economics professor for a Dad may have made that a more pressing concern for me, that does not invalidate my point that this is a very good book.

I would strongly recommend it to anyone taking an economics course, since it provides both easy to understand examples of economic theories (such as an explanation of Comparative advantage using Gilligan's island), as well as real-world examples of them being put into effect. In addition, the short biographies on the various theorists makes it a lot easier to remember what they said.

In short- a good buy, either for general curious reading, or to aid with a more general and comprehensive course.