Let me
ask you a very simple question. Can you name a single American, who
would be listed in the history books, as a great economist? Just one. Go ahead, I will wait.
I am
willing to bet the answer is “No.” You cannot name a single,
great, American economist (without Google) How can that be? Think about it. I mean, I
realize not a lot of people spend time thinking about economists.
But, all I asked for was one name. Does it not seem curious that you
could not think of a single name?
This
week we celebrate the birth of America and it got me to thinking
about this blog post. America is arguably the greatest capitalist
nation in the world and yet we have produced no great economists.
How can
that be?
When we
think of great economists, what were their nationalities? Adam Smith,
Thomas Robert Malthus, John Stuart Mill, David Ricardo, and John
Maynard Keynes were all British. Karl Marx was German. Joseph
Schumpeter, Ludwig von Mises, and Friedrich Hayek were all Austrian.
I just
named nine well-known economists and not one of them was American. I
realize this is something of a nerdy investigation, but I think it is
fascinating nonetheless. I had to think about it for a while.
Do you
have an answer? Do you have a possible explanation?
I must
admit I am coming up short on this one. I do not really know why
America does not have a great economist. We have modern economists,
like Ben Bernanke and Paul Krugman, that have name recognition. But,
they are a long ways from being judged as great.
Part of
me wants to leave it as an open question, and part of me feels that
would be lazy. So, I will attempt to answer the question.
A while
back I wrote a blog post titled "America's Genius." And, I think it might shine some light on our current paradox (if a
paradox is even what it is.)
As we
all know, America did not invent the capitalistic system. So, maybe
that is part of the reason why America is not known for her great
economists.
One
thing America did kind of “invent” was the concept of
self-governance. Government of the people, by the people, and for the
people was America's main contribution to the world. The most
prominent US innovation was political in nature.
For this
reason, if America has a king, or some sort of saintly character, his
name is Abraham Lincoln. A political figure if ever there was one. I
think that might help explain our lack of economists.
By the
way, we have had great economists. You just could not think of their
names. Thorstein Veblen and Henry George were both great economists.
And, here is a name you will recognize. Alexander Hamilton. He was a
great economist. But, I bet you would think of him as a President
before thinking of him as an economist. Which would be even more
interesting, because he was never a President.
It does
appear to be true that the great gift, which the United States gave
to the world, was political more than it was economic. I think this
is kind of a neat reflection as we celebrate the birth of this marvelous country.
