Economist of the Month
Back to homepageEntrepreneur of the Month: Oprah Winfrey
Influential talk show host, author, philanthropist, actress and media personality. Oprah Winfrey has played a key role in modern American life, shaping cultural trends and promoting various liberal causes. Through her talk shows and books, she has focused on many
Read MoreAfghan Woman Entrepreneur- Kamila Sediqi
Hours after teenaged Kamila Sediqi earned her teaching certificate in 1996, the Taliban rolled into Kabul. Her dreams to become a teacher were dashed as she spent endless hours at home in forced seclusion with her mother, father, five sisters,
Read MoreJanet Yellen
Born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1946, Janet Yellen earned a bachelor’s degree from Brown University in 1967. She then went to Yale University, where she received her Ph.D. in 1971. After teaching at Harvard University, Yellen worked at the
Read MoreAngus Deaton awarded 2015 Nobel economics prize
Angus Deaton, a British academic, became the winner of the Nobel economics prize for 2015 for his analysis of consumption, poverty, and welfare. His work focuses on health, wellbeing, and economic development. The work for which Professor Deaton has been
Read MoreThomas Piketty
Thomas Piketty (born on 7 May 1971) is a French economist who works on wealth and income inequality. He is professor (directeur d’études) at the École des hautes études en sciences sociales (EHESS), professor at the Paris School of Economics
Read MoreNassim Nicholas Taleb
Nassim Nicholas Taleb (born 1960) is a Lebanese-American essayist, scholar, statistician, and risk analyst, whose work focuses on problems of randomness, probability, and uncertainty. His 2007 book The Black Swan was described in a review by the Sunday Times as
Read MoreArthur Laffer
Arthur Laffer (b. 1940), one of the chief architects of Ronald Reagan’s economic policies, is best known for the “Laffer Curve,” which purports to demonstrate that decreasing tax rates may increase tax revenues. Arthur B. Laffer’s economic acumen and influence
Read MoreNouriel Roubini
Nouriel Roubini is a Professor of Economics and International Business at New York University Stern School of Business. He is also the cofounder and chairman of Roubini Global Economics, an independent, global macroeconomic and market strategy research firm. The firm’s
Read MoreEconomist of the Month: Dr. Ashraf Ghani
Dr. Ashraf Ghani is the President of Afghanistan, economist and anthropologist. He assumed office on 21 September 2014. He has previously served as Finance Minister and as the chancellor of Kabul University. Before returning to Afghanistan in 2002, President Ghani,
Read MoreElinor Ostrom
Elinor Ostrom (August 7, 1933 – June 12, 2012) was an American political economist whose work was associated with the New Institutional Economics and the resurgence of political economy. In 2009, she shared the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences
Read MoreDouglass C. North
Douglass North shared the 1993 Nobel Prize in economics with Robert Fogel “for having renewed research in economic history by applying economic theory and quantitative methods in order to explain economic and institutional change.” North earned his Ph.D. in economics
Read MorePaul Krugman
Paul Krugman joined The New York Times in 1999 as a columnist on the Op-Ed Page and continues as professor of Economics and International Affairs at Princeton University. Mr. Krugman received his B.A. from Yale University in 1974 and his
Read MoreThomas Sowell
Thomas Sowell (born 1930) is noted for his conservative views on social and economic issues. An African American author and economist, Sowell opposes such programs as affirmative action, busing, racial quotas, minimum wage, and welfare. He has drawn fire from
Read MoreBarbara Bergmann
Barbara Bergmann (b. 1927) laid the foundations for much of contemporary feminist economics, especially regarding discrimination in the workplace. Born in the Bronx, New York, Barabara started formulating ideas about feminism at the age of five. She receives her bachelor’s
Read MoreJan Tinbergen
In 1969 Dutch economist Jan Tinbergen and Norwegian economist Ragnar Frisch shared the first Nobel Prize in economics “for having developed and applied dynamic models for the analysis of economic processes.” Tinbergen, who held a Ph.D. in physics, had become interested in
Read MoreJoseph E. Stiglitz
Joseph E. Stiglitz was born in Gary, Indiana in 1943. A graduate of Amherst College, he received his PHD from MIT in 1967, became a full professor at Yale in 1970, and in 1979 was awarded the John Bates Clark
Read MoreMuhammad Yunus
Muhammad Yunus is a Bangladeshi economist and banker who established the Grameen bank in his country in 1983. The Grameen bank and Yunus were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 “for their efforts to create economic and social
Read MoreJoan Violet Robinson
British economist Joan Robinson was arguably the only woman born before 1930 who can be considered a great economist. She was in the same league as others who received the Nobel Prize; indeed, many economists expected her to win the
Read MoreThomas Malthus
Thomas Robert Malthus was born near Guildford, Surrey in February 1766. His father was prosperous but unconventional and educated his son at home. Malthus went on to Cambridge University, earning a master’s degree in 1791. In 1793, he was made
Read MoreFranco Modigliani
Franco Modigliani was an eminent Italian Economist and Nobel Prize Laureate, who, with his great passion for economics, formulated many theories in his domain. Though born in Italy, he spent most of his life in America, teaching and engaging in
Read MoreLeon Walras
Separately but almost simultaneously with William Stanley Jevons and Carl Menger, French economist Leon Walras developed the idea of marginal utility and is thus considered one of the founders of the “marginal revolution.” But Walras’s biggest contribution was in what is now called
Read MoreBen Bernanke
Ben S. Bernanke began a second term as Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System on February 1, 2010. Dr. Bernanke also serves as Chairman of the Federal Open Market Committee, the System’s principal monetary policymaking
Read MoreFriedrich August Hayek
If any twentieth-century economist was a Renaissance man, it was Friedrich Hayek. He made fundamental contributions in political theory, psychology, and economics. In a field in which the relevance of ideas often is eclipsed by expansions on an initial theory,
Read MoreMilton Friedman
Milton Friedman was the twentieth century’s most prominent advocate of free markets. Born in 1912 to Jewish immigrants in New York City, he attended Rutgers University, where he earned his B.A. at the age of twenty. He went on to
Read MoreDavid Ricardo
David Ricardo was one of those rare people who achieved both tremendous success and lasting fame. After his family disinherited him for marrying outside his Jewish faith, Ricardo made a fortune as a stockbroker and loan broker. When he died,
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