History of economic thought

This unit involves the study of a series of thinkers whose ideas helped to develop the approaches and tools that make up modern economics: Adam Smith, David Ricardo, Karl Marx, Alfred Marshall, Irving Fisher, John Maynard Keynes, Joseph Schumpeter, Friedrich Hayek, Joan Robinson, Milton Friedman, Douglass North, and Robert Solow. Reference will also be made to the ideas of influential female economists: Mary Paley, Deidre McCloskey, Jane Jacobs, and Elinor Ostrom. In considering the history of these ideas, you will develop informed views about the relative roles of the state and markets in economic life, with particular reference to ongoing challenges such as sustainability, income inequality, intergenerational disadvantage, globalisation and trade. These ideas provide insight into how society can build economies that are resilient, flexible, and less vulnerable to economic fluctuations.