Understanding the Research Agenda and Talents of Economists

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In this chapter, the author explores the goals and motivations of economists such as Mill and Keynes, contrasting their broad interests with the specialization seen in modern economics. They also introduce their new book, which features case studies on economists, and discuss the admiration they have for the dedication of economists like Keynes in their pursuit of understanding the world.

Who is the greatest economist of all time? In Tyler Cowen's eclectic view, you need both breadth and depth, macro and micro. You can't have been too wrong--and you need to be mostly right. You have to have had a lasting impact, and done both theory and empirical work. If you meet all these criteria, you may just be history's greatest economist. Listen as Cowen talks about his new and freely accessible book GOAT with EconTalk's Russ Roberts. Along the way to crowning a winner, Cowen offers original insights into what shaped the theories and worldviews of the greatest economists of all time. Cowen and Roberts also talk about the evolution of economics from a field concerned mainly with ideas to one that mostly grapples with empirical challenges.