Since the days of Adam Smith, economists have grappled with a series of familiar problems, but their ideas are often hard to digest, even before we try to apply them to today's issues. "What Would the Great Economists Do?" exlpains the key thoughts of history's greatest economists, how our lives have been influenced by their ideas, and how they could help us with the policy challenges that we face today.
In light of current economic problems-in particular, economic growth- this book explores the thoughts of economists from Adam Smith and David Ricardo to contemporary academics Douglass North and Robert Solow. Along the way for exaple, why are wages so low? How do the ideas of John Maynard Keynes, who argued for government spending to create full employment, help us think about state investment? And with globalization in trouble, what can we learn about handling Trumpism and Brexit?