Landmarks in Economic Thinking

Course Overview

Modern day economic policy rests on concepts derived from seminal works of a few pivotal economists and their economic theories. Their formative insights provide a framework for understanding risk aversion, government intervention and the free market economy. This course teaches students about some of the most important thinking in the history of economics through the lens of three foremost economists and their books: Adam Smith and The Wealth of Nations (1776); Alfred Marshall and his Principles of Economics (1890); and John Maynard Keynes and The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money (1936). Students will explore the various elements of each thinker’s economic theory, from Smith’s labour theory of value to Marshall’s methodology of economics and Keynes’ theories on wages and spending, and monetary and fiscal policy. Other topics include the relationship between the wage rate and profit, arguments against intervention and for free trade, welfare economics, interest rates and the “multiplier effect.” 

After completion of this course, students will gain a thorough understanding of select influential economic theories by three critical economists.

Cambridge Faculty Fellow: Murray Milgate, Ph.D.

Fellow and Director of Studies in Economics at Queens' College in the University of Cambridge Murray Milgate is an Australian-born academic economist and Fellow and Director of Studies in Economics at Queens' College in the University of Cambridge. He is the co-creator and co-editor of the celebrated original edition of The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics (1987) together with John Eatwell and Peter Newman. He is a founding editor of the journal Contributions to Political Economy. His most recent book, The Fall and Rise of Keynesian Economics, was published by Oxford University Press.

Learning Outcomes

• Become familiar with the life, works and legacies of economists Adam Smith, Alfred Marshall, and John Maynard Keynes 
• Understand Smith’s theory on money and prices as well as his thinking on income distribution and growth, market forces, and the “invisible hand” 
• Key features of the Cambridge School of economics 
• Key aspects of economic theory according to Marshall and Keynes 
• Views held by Marshall and Keynes on the process of economic development