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The Making of Modern Economics

The Lives and Ideas of the Great Thinkers, Second Edition

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The Making of Modern Economics

By: Mark Skousen
Narrated by: William Hughes
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About this listen

 Here is a bold, new account of the lives and ideas of the great economists - Adam Smith, Karl Marx, John Maynard Keynes, Ludwig von Mises, Milton Friedman, and many others - all written by a top free-market economist and presented in an entertaining and persuasive style. Professor Mark Skousen tells a powerful story of economics with dozens of anecdotes of the great economic thinkers.©2009 Mark Skousen (P)2009 Blackstone Audio, Inc. Economic History Economics

Critic reviews

"Both fascinating and infuriating...enaging, readable, colorful...credulous, disingenuous, and tendentious." ( Foreign Affairs)
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I was looking for a grounding in economic thinking that wasn’t just a textbook and this seemed to fit the bill. It is unsurprisingly pro free-market and the author makes no bones about his libertarian sympathies and admiration for the Austrian school. But this did not bother me as I have other sources for liberal Keynesian and socialist apologists. The Narrator does a pretty good job of bringing life to what is still quite a dry subject matter. I found this book quite useful and informative but I should add I am relatively new to the technicalities of economics.

Useful and entertaining

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Skousen writes a lucid and highly informative history of the greatest minds in the field of economics however to anyone who understands academic sources, it is clear that he has an agenda to convert the reader to faith in laissez faire capitalism despite its obvious moral and even economic failures. Updated in 2009 just after the biggest economic collapse since the Great Depression, Skousen's optimism seems dated and uninformed. By repeated referring to Adam Smith's writings as a system of "perfect freedom" and upholding Milton Friedman as the pinnacle of economic genius, he positions himself as a naive believer that there are only two economic systems - laissez faire capitalism (good) and Marxist socialism (bad). Thinkers who have attempted to walk either a middle road or somehow deviate from the Smithean orthodoxy are described as failures who wandered from the true path - that path being only laissez faire. The recent government bailouts of major bastions of pure capitalism have demonstrated that perhaps John Maynard Keynes, whom Skousen labels as a failure who pandered to socialism, might still have something to say.



To be fair to the author, the life histories and side stories are interesting and well worth the read, however the structure of how Skousen relates the life stories of various economists can be at times confusing, introducing a character and then not speaking of him again for a long time while going back to an earlier character. This is particularly confusing in the audiobook format. Also his frequent reference to important charts not visible to the listener means that having the book or the accompanying website in front of you while you listen is an advantage.



Overall this book is an interesting read for non-specialists in the field and those with an interest in history however the extreme bias in favour of laissez faire capitalism disqualifies it as an impartial primer to understanding economics.

Informative but leaning toward unwarrented bias.

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The author seems to be clearly a republican, for instance in the opening chapters Adam Smith is painted as godlike (the benevolent father of economics and capitalism) while Karl Marx is the Devil incarnate (though nonetheless acknowledging his place in economic thought albeit at the bottom of the \"totem pole\" ...). However Skousen does acknowledge in the opening chapter that the book is very much his own point of view and that many readers may strongly disagree with him. And the book while clearly partisan is none the less interesting and informative.

The narators american accent may be slightly grating for some Anglo saxon ears, but grows on you and is quite acceptable after a while

I can't comment on the whole book as have only listened to 1/3 of it so far, but thus far its an interesting introduction to the foundations of economic thought.

Partisan but interesting and informative

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This book is for those with absolutely no knowledge of economics only. Overly simplified , often misleading and sometimes downright wrong. One can only hope that Audible will soon present a serious title covering the history of economics instead of this 'children's book'.

To be avoided!

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