By Joel Clovis
Following a successful introduction in ECO’s Black History Month (BHM) contribution, I was invited to write a blog piece on prominent economists, of any colour, who had inspired and influenced me on my journey into Economics. I chose Arthur Lewis for the BHM discussion. It was Lewis who 1st modelled the economic incentives that induce labour from the agrarian sector to the urban economy. He also constructed an innovative trade model which won him the Nobel prize in 1979. Below I introduce 4 more inspirational economists, 1 personal to me and 3 public figures.
The format I adopt here is to discuss my heroes under two broad heading: (i) those who have changed the profession and/or the world; (ii) those who have changed me.
Some background to begin
I was born in the Caribbean and brought to the UK as a child to East London. I was the first from my family to go university. I chose economics because I could not get into my preferred 1st choice – and I am now very thankful of missing that 1st boat.
Mike Pine – The teacher that was to change my world view.
Like most first-year undergraduates I was full of high spirits and less full of learning. I was not even peddling at all. It was early in the 2nd year of my degree that I met Dr Mike Pine. He taught me ‘The History of Economic Thought’, and changed my life after his very first lecture.
Prior to the lecture we were asked to read sections of Adam Smith’s classic ‘An Enquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations’ (WoNs), on the ‘Division of Labour’ and the ‘Origin and Use of Money’. These chapters arguably form the foundations of Classical Economics, well worthy of study in their own right; but to a fairly typical, half interested 2nd year undergraduate, they seemed really dull. But that was before Mike Pine came into the room.
I will never forget how that first lesson went. The lecture hall was half full, when a tall, dishevelled, rotund, black man breezed into the hall. With the WoNs raised he began to read passages and asked us to follow and to highlight as we went. Then, after finishing a passage he went to the blackboard and started to read again, but this time he was writing symbols – re-rendering the text into algebra and pictures that we had been introduced to in the preceding academic year. This of course, was pedagogy, not rocket science, and in hindsight, it is obviously what is natural when reading original texts from the early masters. But to me it was new and refreshing. It was delivered with style and panache. It caused connections to be made in the learning process going on in my head. It caused the room to fizz; it was electrifying.
When he had finished, for about 5 seconds the room was still, then everyone, but everyone, stood and applauded. I left the hall buzzing. I began to devour textbooks. I never missed a class. I made all my assignment deadlines and achieved good grades. I was completely sold on economics from then on. Dr Pine was everything a good teacher should be engaging, smart, enthusiastic, charismatic, and unorthodox. If I can enthuse anyone as he enthused me that day, then I would consider myself a successful teacher of economics.
Who are the other stars of the economics firmament, past and present?
There are many who have shaped my understanding of particularly difficult or challenging ideas. These people tend to stay with you; and you sometimes return to re-read and re-affirm their enduring influence. My list is long and growing. I offer you my 1st and a random selection of two others.
First is David Hume. He was a moral philosopher and friend to both Adam Smith, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau. His restlessness took him around Europe, and his writings consider the full spectrum of human subjects. Hume taught me how to think about science, and about causation and how to reason. I do particularly like and recommend his essays on Religion, on ‘The First Principles of Government’, ‘Of Money’ and ‘Of Interest’.
Hume influenced many who would later become important: Emmanuel Kant, Jeremy Bentham, John Stuart Mill, Auguste Comte and Adam Smith, to name but a few. Smith wrote of him: “approaching as nearly to the idea of a perfectly wise and virtuous man as perhaps the nature of human frailty will permit.” Not a bad epitaph.
My next offering is Kenneth J Arrow. His work on General Equilibrium Theory with Gerrard Debreu is what first drew me to him. It is a must read for all serious studies in economic modelling. His other contributions continue a general theme of logical simplicity. His impossibility theorem is still stunning in its clarity almost 70 years on. Arrow taught me how to be available to the counter-intuitive ideas. I am currently reading one of his other contributions in the realm of growth economics: ‘The Economic Implications of Learning by Doing’; it still has much to say in this modern age of automated learning, and Big Data.
The Financial Times in its obituary wrote “In 1972, at the age of 51, he won one of the first Nobel memorial prizes in economics, the youngest winner then or since. Yet even a Nobel Prize understates Arrow’s contribution to economic theory“. A brilliant mathematician, he ranged widely, breaking ground in areas that have subsequently yielded many further Nobels, including risk, innovation, health economics and economic growth.
My final offering is perhaps less well known, and is a reading reference. Lawrence A. Boland. His ‘The Principles of Economics’ (1992) is not an especially easy read. Understanding how ideas in economics are formed and propagated are deconstructed in this insightful little book. Read it and you will be well rewarded. It tells the story of how ideas once embedded can be very hard to shift and can grow a ‘life’ of their own. The subtitle is: ‘Some Lies My Teachers Told Me’; need I say more?
As mentioned, my list is long and still growing, and if asked, I would be willing share some more. But who are your economist heroes and why? Share your views.