Recent Economists Who Write Well

McCloskey's list:

Akerloff, Arrow, Boulding, Bronfenbrenner, Buchanan, Caves, Clower, L. Davis, Fogel, Friedman, Haberler, Haberger, Heilbroner, Hirschman, Hughes, Galbraith, Gershenkron, Griliches, Harry Johnson, Keynes, Kindleberger, Lebergott, Leijonhufvud, Olson, Parker, Robertson, J. Robinson, Rostow, Schelling, Schumpeter, Schultz, Solow, Stigler, Tobin, Tullock, and Yeager.

Let's consider three more.  I'd add Alchian, McCloskey, and Rothbard.  Whom would you add? 

Comments

[Peter Boettke]

Great question Dave.

I think you would have to add Cowen, Krugman, de Long, and Mankiw since their skill to communicate has been proven both in the blogs and in the top newpapers. And you would have to say Shleifer because his writing communicates so well to his peers that he is the most important economist in the last 15 or so years as measured by citations and impact articles.

Baumol should probably be on the list as well.

How about Becker?

Also, there are different types of economists and if you want to talk about the economist as public intellectual, then I would put Russ Roberts up there and also Tim Harford, I would NOT put Steven Landsberg.

I agree with your inclusion of Rothbard, but I do think that judgment is unique to "us" (those who are persuaded by his argument). Do we know of any mature economist who read Rothbard and became persuaded by his arguments? Rothbard was perhaps the pivotal author in my life (though Mises was the pivotal thinker), but I am not sure that if I came to read him after I was already a professor I would have found his style effective. Perhaps I am wrong -- would like to know the evidence on this.

As for the young economist --- I sincerely do believe Pete Leeson is the most effective writer. Chris Coyne is also an outstanding writer. And Ben Powell is a very effective writer. Leeson should have been in The Economist list of rising economists.

[Nat Almirall]

In addition to Prof. Boettke's selections, I nominate Hans Sennholz. And I'm biased, but also Geoff Lea.

[Danny Shahar]

Does Hazlitt count? Gene's pretty good too, but I hear he's studying philosophy...*gag* He might as well be a noveli- oh wait.

[Steve Horwitz]

What are we talking about here? Are we talking about writers we find "effective" or "persuasive" or are we talking about writers who "write well?" There's a difference. One can be persuasive without necessarily being a "good writer" because you have clever ideas. And one can write very well but not persuade many (e.g, DH Robertson - who was brilliant but was a chief without a tribe).

I took Deirdre to be talking about "writing well" - as in writing clearly, with good organization and style etc.. And one cannot measure that by citations and other measures of impact. If it's Deirdre's criteria, I'm not sure I'd agree with all of the "our guys" choices here.

[BBB]

I'd add Geoffrey Hodgson (Economics and Institutions, Economics and Evolution, his 3 books in Routledge's "economics as social theory" are all enjoyable and enlightening)

Sorry for my ignorance but I'm not sure who these economists are: Caves, L. Davis, Hughes, Lebergott, Parker and Robertson. But as they are good writers apparently I should be reading them, so please could someone provide a few explanations or links.

[jp]

David Laidler

[Mario Rizzo]

I would *take away* George Stigler. His writing, especially in his price theory book, is too elliptical. He throws out points often without full explanations.

[Dave Prychitko]

Well written in terms of style, not persuasion.

Speaking of take-aways, I'd drop Schumpeter. His style, at least in Cap, Soc, & Dem, is not very good.

[geoff]

Oliver Williamson. Just kidding.

[Jeff H.]

Krugman

[liberty]

I disagree with several of those, I like Schumpeter, I think Mises is actually a fantastic writer -- his ability to cogently explain and never leave you wondering what he meant -- much better than Hayek, for example.

Leijonhufvud is fun, Keynes is awful, Tullock is a bit dry and wordy.

[Brad Hansen]

Robert Higgs

[Mario Rizzo]

I am also surprised by Keynes being on the list. Much of his prose is pleasant and refined but The General Theory is very poorly written -- imprecise and confused. The real challenge is to write precisely and well.

[Greg Ransom]

Garrison.

[PCLE]

Meir Kohn