Sunday, August 17, 2008

A Wiki survey

Adam Smith

b. 1723 (Kirkcaldy), d. 1790 (Edinburgh)

Age: 67

Right


Known for his explanation of how rational self-interest and competition, operating in a social framework which ultimately depends on adherence to moral obligations, can lead to economic well-being and prosperity.

Notable publication: An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (1776).


John Maynard Keynes

b. 1883 (Cambridge), d. 1946 (Tilton)

Age: 62

Left


Advocated interventionist government policy, by which the government would use fiscal and monetary measures to mitigate the adverse effects of economic recessions, depressions and booms.

Notable publication: The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money (1936).


Friedrich August von Hayek

b. 1889 (Vienna), d. 1992 (Freiburg)

Age: 92

Right


Known for his defence of classical liberalism and free-market capitalism against socialist and collectivist thought.

Notable publication: The Road to Serfdom (1944).


John Kenneth Galbraith

b. 1908 (Iona Station), d. 2006 (Cambridge, Mass.)

Age: 97

Left


Believed that economic activity could not be distilled into inviolable laws, but rather was a complex product of the cultural and political milieu in which it occurs.

Notable publication: American Capitalism: The Concept of Countervailing Power (1952).


Milton Friedman

b. 1912 (Brooklyn), d. 2006 (San Francisco)

Age: 94

Right


Argued that if capitalism, or economic freedom, is introduced into countries governed by totalitarian regimes, political freedom would tend to result.

Notable publication: Capitalism and Freedom (1962).


The Swedish Chef

b. 1937 (Jokkmokk, Lapland), d. 1981 (London)

Age: 44

North


Known to have waved kitchen utensils while singing a "signature song", the lyrics of which varied but always ended with "bort, bort, bort" (meaning, literally, "away, away, away").

Notable publication: Ginger-free Pepparkakor Cookies (1962).

4 comments:

D.B. Valentine said...

Thanks

Lunar Brogue said...

You're welcome. I should note that The Swedish Chef is occasionally identified as a Nobel laureate. Though falsely. In the only year he could realistically have won the prize, Beaker threatened to top himself unless he and Bunsen won it - not for chemistry, as you'd expect, but for economics. (There was clearly some nasty politics going on there.)

Ann ODyne said...

"if capitalism, or economic freedom, is introduced into countries governed by totalitarian regimes, political freedom would tend to result" ...
yes Milton you were correct. All the zillionaire Russians have political freedom in Regent's Park where they now live.

Lunar Brogue said...

Regent's Park, is that anywhere near the suburb of Polonium-210?