This timeline traces the evolution of economic thought from mercantilist policies in the 18th century to modern behavioral and institutional economics, highlighting key figures such as Adam Smith, Karl Marx, and John Maynard Keynes, alongside contributions from global traditions including Islamic banking and Indian planning.
John Law publishes 'Money and Trade Considered', advocating for paper money and credit expansion to stimulate the economy, a key mercantilist work. #mercantilism #economics )
John Law establishes the Banque Générale in France, one of the first central banks issuing paper money, leading to the Mississippi Bubble. #mercantilism #finance
The collapse of the South Sea Company in Britain and the Mississippi Company in France causes a financial crisis, discrediting mercantilist speculation. #mercantilism #crisis
Adam Smith publishes 'The Theory of Moral Sentiments', laying the ethical foundation for his later economic work on self-interest and sympathy. #economics #philosophy
Sir James Steuart publishes the first complete English treatise on economics, 'An Inquiry into the Principles of Political Oeconomy', a major mercantilist work. #mercantilism #economics )
Adam Smith's 'An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations' is published, founding classical economics with concepts like the invisible hand and division of labor. #classicaleconomics #smith
Thomas Malthus publishes 'An Essay on the Principle of Population', arguing that population growth tends to outpace food supply, influencing later economic thought. #classicaleconomics #population
Jean-Baptiste Say publishes 'A Treatise on Political Economy', introducing Say's Law that supply creates its own demand, a cornerstone of classical economics. #classicaleconomics #sayslaw
David Ricardo publishes 'On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation', developing comparative advantage and labor theory of value. #classicaleconomics #ricardo
The first general trade union in Britain is formed, reflecting early labor movements and socialist economic thought challenging classical liberalism. #labor #socialism
John Stuart Mill publishes 'Principles of Political Economy', synthesizing classical economics with early socialist ideas and advocating for progressive taxation. #classicaleconomics #mill
Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels publish 'The Communist Manifesto', outlining the theory of class struggle and the inevitable overthrow of capitalism. #marxism #socialism
Karl Marx publishes the first volume of 'Das Kapital', analyzing capitalist production, exploitation, and crises through the labor theory of value. #marxism #politicaleconomy
William Stanley Jevons, Carl Menger, and Léon Walras independently publish works on marginal utility, shifting economics from classical to neoclassical theory. #neoclassical #marginalism
Léon Walras publishes 'Elements of Pure Economics', formalizing general equilibrium theory within the neoclassical framework. #neoclassical #generalequilibrium
Alfred Marshall publishes 'Principles of Economics', introducing supply and demand diagrams, consumer surplus, and the concept of elasticity. #neoclassical #marshall )
Thorstein Veblen publishes 'The Theory of the Leisure Class', founding institutional economics with concepts like conspicuous consumption. #institutional #veblen
Joseph Schumpeter publishes 'The Theory of Economic Development', emphasizing innovation, entrepreneurship, and creative destruction. #innovation #schumpeter
Vladimir Lenin publishes 'Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism', linking capitalist expansion to imperialism and colonialism. #marxism #imperialism
Ludwig von Mises argues that rational economic calculation is impossible under socialism, sparking the socialist calculation debate. #austrian #socialism
John Maynard Keynes publishes 'A Treatise on Money', exploring the role of money and credit in economic fluctuations. #keynesian #macroeconomics
Irving Fisher develops the debt-deflation theory of depressions, explaining how falling prices exacerbate debt burdens. #macroeconomics #deflation
John Maynard Keynes publishes 'The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money', founding macroeconomics and advocating for government intervention to manage demand. #keynesian #macroeconomics
John Hicks introduces the IS-LM model, a simplification of Keynes' theory that dominates macroeconomic pedagogy. #keynesian #islm
The Bretton Woods Conference establishes the IMF and World Bank, creating a fixed exchange rate system linked to the U.S. dollar. #internationaleconomics #keynesian
Karl Polanyi publishes 'The Great Transformation', arguing that market economies are embedded in social relations and that laissez-faire leads to crises. #institutional #polanyi )
Friedrich Hayek publishes 'The Road to Serfdom', warning against central planning and advocating for classical liberalism and free markets. #austrian #liberalism
Paul Samuelson publishes 'Foundations of Economic Analysis', applying mathematical methods to neoclassical economics. #neoclassical #mathematicaleconomics
Milton Friedman publishes 'Essays in Positive Economics', outlining his methodology and advocating for monetarism. #monetarism #friedman
Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis introduces a model for India's Five-Year Plans, emphasizing heavy industry and state intervention in a developing economy. #development #planning
Simon Kuznets proposes the Kuznets curve, suggesting that income inequality first rises then falls during economic development. #development #inequality
Robert Solow publishes 'A Contribution to the Theory of Economic Growth', developing the neoclassical growth model emphasizing capital accumulation and technological progress. #growth #neoclassical
Ronald Coase publishes 'The Problem of Social Cost', introducing the Coase theorem on property rights and market externalities. #institutional #coase
Milton Friedman and Anna Schwartz publish 'A Monetary History of the United States', arguing that monetary policy caused the Great Depression. #monetarism #greatdepression
President Nixon ends gold convertibility, effectively ending the Bretton Woods system and leading to floating exchange rates. #internationaleconomics #monetary
The Islamic Development Bank is established to promote Islamic finance, based on Sharia principles prohibiting interest. #islamicfinance #development
Robert Lucas publishes 'Econometric Policy Evaluation: A Critique', arguing that traditional macroeconomic models fail to account for rational expectations. #macroeconomics #rationalexpectations
Finn Kydland and Edward Prescott publish 'Time to Build and Aggregate Fluctuations', introducing real business cycle theory that emphasizes productivity shocks. #macroeconomics #rbc
James Buchanan wins the Nobel Prize for developing public choice theory, applying economic analysis to political decision-making. #publicchoice #institutional
John Williamson coins the term 'Washington Consensus' to describe neoliberal policy prescriptions for developing countries, including privatization and deregulation. #development #neoliberalism
Gary Becker wins the Nobel Prize for extending economic analysis to human behavior, including human capital and the economics of the family. #humancapital #becker
Amartya Sen wins the Nobel Prize for his contributions to welfare economics, including the capability approach and famine analysis. #development #welfare
Daniel Kahneman wins Nobel for prospect theory in behavioral economics, and Vernon Smith for experimental economics, integrating psychology into economics. #behavioral #experimental
The bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers triggers the Global Financial Crisis, prompting Keynesian stimulus and regulatory reforms worldwide. #crisis #keynesian
Thomas Piketty publishes 'Capital in the Twenty-First Century', reviving interest in wealth inequality and historical economic data. #inequality #piketty
