Lost Prophets: An Insider's History of the Modern Economists

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"Practical men who believe themselves to be quite exepmt from any intellectual influences are usually the slaves of some defunct economist, " John Maynard Keynes warned long ago. Though Keynes may now be defunct himself, his statement still stands - as Alfred L. Malabre Jr illustrates in this account of the world's best-known economists, their ideas, and their influence on our world. From the Mt. Washington Hotel at Bretton Woods, New Hampshire to the Phoenix, Arizona Biltmore to Manhatten's Michael One restaurant, Malabre charts the rise and fall of economic schools of thought - and the people who brought these ideas into the policy-making arena. Anecdotes about the leading economists of our time - from Samuelson to Burns to Friedman to Greenspan - provide a behind-the-scences look at how our lives have been shaped by practitioners of the "dismal science". Malabre paints a picture of the Keynesians, the monetarists, and the supply-siders and how their advice has helped and hurt the economy over the years. Malabre concludes that we should expect less of our economists, but also, recognizing their past mistakes, appreciate that some of what they say can lead us to a sounder economic future.