Evaluation of Economists

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All the twelve great economists had great contributions to economics and they all showed great enthusiasm in studying economics. There were some differences between their concepts of economics, but all of these concepts built up the basic ideas of the economics we studied today.

There were several criterion employed in ranking the economists.

First of all, the economist should have great influences in economics. He / she should have substantial theories which could be applied in the real world and could be used as reference to other economists.

Then he / she should enjoy his / her works in finding theories or developing his / her own ideas, he / she should show enthusiasm in studying economics. If he / she could enjoy his / her works, he / she would concentrate in the process of defining the theories and ideas and would give better results. Hence, meaningful and great economics theories would be formed.

Third, he / she should dedicate to spread the ideas of economics so that all people could receive the concepts of economics and hence improve the economy in the world.

Spreading the economics ideas was very important, other could make changes to his / her concepts and correct them.

Finally, he / she should have contributions to the society. It was very important for the economist to consider the public benefits when creating his / her own ideas which might have great influence to the society. As economics relates the allocation of resources in the world, the economics theories created might affect the wealth distribution in the world.

Among the twelve great economists discussed in this course, I would rank Alfred Marshall the first and Lerner Abba Potachya the second.

In my point of view, Alfred Marshall (1842-1924) who was the first economist I learned in this course, was the greatest economist among the twelve. He was just like the father of economics. He contributed most of his life in economics.

When he started teaching political economics at St John’s College, he was committed his career to developing this subject and helping to transform it into a new science of economics. He spent several years in developing and defining his economics ideas and deepening his understandings. He also visited the USA to probe economic conditions, and throughout his life he was tireless in his efforts to master the practicalities of the economic world. It seems that most of his life was surrounded by economics.

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