Should economists be concerned with questions of morality? Can economic ideas be applied to social phenomena like divorce rates and crime? What even is economics? Ask an economist these questions and his answer will differ greatly depending on the school of economic thought to which he belongs. Yet too many textbooks ignore the fascinating debates and history that have shaped the modern discipline. In this book, award-winning author Eamonn Butler provides a clear, jargon-free guide to the schools of thought that have had the greatest impact on the world today, for both better and worse. It shows how and why thinkers have come up with different explanations of how economic life operates and how we might improve its workings to boost human prosperity and welfare. This is a story that stretches over two and a half millennia, from Aristotle coining the term ‘economics’ in ancient Greece, to the classical economics of Adam Smith, to Marxism and Keynesianism, to more modern ideas such as Behavioural Economics and Public Choice Theory. Butler’s concise and well-researched work provides an essential introduction to the ideas, debates and people that have shaped and continue to shape economics.
