History Of Economics

Civilizations in the Middle East, China, and elsewhere employed sophisticated financial concepts and produced written guides of best economic practices and norms in the first millennium BCE.

Tunisian philosopher Ibn Khaldun, writing in the 14th century, was among the first theorists to examine division of labor, profit motive, and international trade.

In the 18th century, Scottish economist Adam Smith used the ideas of French Enlightenment writers to develop a thesis on how economies should work, and in the 19th century, Karl Marx and Thomas Malthus expanded on his work.

Late-19th century economists Léon Walras and Alfred Marshall used statistics and mathematics to express economic concepts, such as economies of scale.

John Maynard Keynes developed theories in the early 20th century that the Federal Reserve still uses to manage monetary policy today.

Most modern economic theories are based on the work of Keynes and the free-market theories of Milton Friedman, which suggest more capital in the system lessens the need for government involvement.

More recent theories, such as those of Harvard University economist Amartya Sen, argue for factoring ethics into social welfare calculations of economic efficiency.