David Ricardo (1772 - 1823)

• Principal of Political Economy & Taxation (distribution theory - with more people, more land can be cultivated, but return will fluctuate as capital fluctuates - AKA law of diminishing returns)
• International Trade Theory (AKA Comparative Advantage Theory, focused on comparative costs and how one would benefit - if a country can produce a good with lowest opportunity costs, then that country should produce the good)

Thomas Malthus (1766 - 1834)

• An Essay on the Principle of Population (population of mankind will eventually outstrip men's ability to supply themselves with necessities of life)
• Political Economy (criticized science - technology like birth control, politics - welfare will cause population increase, and pessimism - eventual cease of humanity)

Jean Baptiste Say (1767 - 1832)

• major work: Traité d'économie politique
• Law of Markets - supply creates its own demand (products are paid for with products) - if you supply it, people will buy it

Karl Marx (1818 - 1883)

• Communist Manifesto - first orderly statement of modern socialist ideas
• no distinction between classes, no differences between socialism or communism
• under capitalism, workers are not used for creativity but just for creating profit margin
• views were consequences of the industrial revolution (poor workers' conditions)

Alfred Marshall (1842 - 1924)

• The Economics of Industry - concept of elasticity, demand & supply, splitting calculations in long-run and short-run
• also developed Demand Theory, Distribution Theory, Monetary Theory, and International Trade Theory

Friedrich August Von Hayek (1899 - 1992)

• won Nobel Prize for economics (shared with Myrdal)
• The Road to Serfdom - a warning to socialists of the world, describes similarities between Fascism and Socialism, how freedom is threatened when governments try to do "too much"
• later took good parts of socialism and explained how they could be applied to a free democratic society where the government does not intervene in the control of inflation and other economic matters
• describes a free, non-social liberal society to replace oppression of Communism and Fascism

John Maynard Keynes (1883 - 1946)

• The Economic Consequences of the Peace - attached Allies demand from the defeated Central Powers after WWI ended
• The World's Economic Outlook - IMF staff's analysis and projection of economic developments at a global level
• General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money - foundations for modern theories of macroeconomics, developed due to the Great Depression - also included Laissez-faire managerial style, counter-cyclical demand management policies
• Aggregate Demand Equation y=C(y)+i(R), C(y) being Income, i(R) being Rate of Interest
• Demand for Money M=L(y,R)

Milton Friedman (1912 - )

• US Government has yet to hire him as Chairman for the Federal Reserve, showing US Gov't does not like his ideas
• advocates a representative government that allows individual creativity while maintaining a minimal order (capitalism and a free market economy)
• government should change money supply minimally to keep it steady
• against Keynes' theory of government's role in shaping economic growth primarily through tools like taxation and budget spending
• The Theory of the Consumption - disproves Keynes' General Theory of the regularity and predictability of the consumption function

Irving Fisher (1867 - 1947)

• works are based on mathematics
• major work: Mathematical Investigations in the Theory of Values and Prices
• Fisher Equation of Exchange (MV=PT)
• M = amount of money in circulation, V = velocity of circulation of that money, P = average price level, T = number of transactions taking place

Roy Forbes Harrod (1900 - 1978)

• developed LRAC curve, Marginal Revenue curve, and theory of monopolistic competition
• multiplier/accelerator interaction (net investment depends on rate of change of output, therefore an increase in government spending will boost income via multiplier)
• Harrod-Domar model - rate of growth depends on level of savings and capital output ratio (concludes that growth depends on labour and capital, more physical capital generates economic growth, and higher income allows higher levels of savings)