Greatest Economists

 

post-autistic economics review
Issue no. 36, 24 February 2006

 

 

      issue 36 contents                            PAE Review index                               home page

 

 

 

Results of the post-autistic economics review’s

Greatest Twentieth-Century Economists Poll

 

Subscribers to this journal were asked: 

Who were the greatest economists of the 20th-Century? 

“Greatest” here means not who most influenced the economics profession or ideology, but rather who most added to our understanding of economic phenomena.  Vote for your top five. The economist who is your first choice will be credited with five votes, your second choice with four, your third with three, your fourth with two and your fifth with one.  You may vote for fewer than five if you wish.  Only subscribers to the post-autistic economics review are eligible to vote. The votes of subscribers who submit more than one set of votes will not be counted.

 

1,249 subscribers voted.  The results are as follows.

 

 

1. John Maynard Keynes   3,253

2. Joseph Alois Schumpeter   1,080

3. John Kenneth Galbraith   904

4. Amartya Sen   708

5. Joan Robinson   607

6. Thorstein Veblen   591

7. Michal Kalecki   481

8. Friedrich Hayek   469

9. Karl Polanyi   456

10. Piero Sraffa   383

 

11. Joseph Stiglitz   333

12. Kenneth Arrow   320

13. Milton Friedman   319

13. Paul Samuelson   319

15. Paul Sweezy   268

16. Herman Daly   267

17. Herbert Simon   250

18. Ronald Coase   246

19. Gunnar Myrdal   216

20. Alfred Marshall   211

21. Albert Hirschmann   208

22. Nicholoas Georgescu-Roegen   205

23. Kenneth Boulding   174

24. Wassily Leontief   153

25. Nicholas Kaldor   141

26. Douglas North   138

27. Raul Prebisch   102

28. John Hicks   97

29. Ernest Mandel   87

30. Ludwig von Mises   78

 

31. John R.Commons   76

32. Richard R.Nelson   72

33. George Akerlof   71

34. E. F. Schumacher   67

35. Paul Krugman   64

36. Daniel Kahneman   60

37. Gary Becker   58

38. Robert Heilbroner   57

39. Hyman Minsky   54

40. Thomas Schelling   53

41. Arthur Lewis   52

42. John Nash   51

43. Samir Amin   49

43. James Buchanan   49

45. Celso Furtado   48

45. John von Neuman   48

47. Irving Fisher   43

48. Jan Tinbergen   42

49. Maurice Dobb   41

49. Simon Kuznets   41

 

51. Robert Solow   40

52. Michel Aglietta   38

52. Nancy Folbre   38

54. Silvio Gesell   37

54. Rosa Luxemburg   37

56. Vladimir Lenin   36

57. Vernon Smith   35

58. Mason Gaffney   34

59. Robert Lucas   32

59. Oliver Williamson   32

61. Paul Baran   31

62. François Perroux   28

63. George Shackle   27

63. Rudolf Steiner   27

63. James Tobin   27

66. Luigi Passinetti   26

67. Brian Arthur   24

67. Deirdre McCloskey   24

67. Tony Lawson   24

70. Clarence Ayres   23

70. Knut Wicksell    23

72. Mancur Olson   22

72. Maurice Allais   22

72. Ha-Joon Chang   22

72. Christopher Freeman   22

72. Max Weber   22

78. Hernando de Soto   21

78. Samuel Bowles   20

78. George Stigler   20

78. Anwar Shaikh   20

78. Amos Tversky   20

82. Geoffrey Hodgson   19

82. Frank Knight   19

82. Vilfredo Pareto   19

82. Lance Taylor   19

86. Andre Gunder Frank   18

86. Immanuel Wallerstein   18

88. Louis O. Kelso   17

88. Janos Kornai   17

90. Robert Boyer   16

90. Paul Davidson   16

90. William Kapp   16

90. Abba Lerner   16

94. William Baumol   15

94. Diane Elson   15

94. Pierangelo Garegnani   15

94. Roy Harrod   15

94. Franco Modigliani   15

94. Richard Thaler   15

94. William Vickrey   15

 

 

For people receiving less than 15 votes go to http://www.paecon.net/PAEReview/issue36/furtherresults.htm

 

Editor’s Note

The exact geographical distribution of the voters in this poll is unknowable.  However it is reasonable to assume that it resembles the distribution of visitors to www.paecon.net during the voting period.  The site statistics for the month of January 2006, showing the distribution of visitors between the top 30 of a total of 127 countries, are available at

http://www.paecon.net/PAEReview/issue36/VisitorStatistics36.htm

 

Thanks to all of you who voted.  EF