Bird’s‑Eye Timeline of Economic Thought

From Classical Political Economy to today’s Behavioural & Data‑Driven approaches – see how each school shaped modern policy within a single scroll.

📜 Classical

1776 – 1870

Smith, Ricardo & Mill lay foundations: free markets, comparative advantage, labour theory of value.

📈 Neoclassical

1870 – 1930

Marginalism, utility, equilibrium – Walras, Marshall. Mathematics enters the discipline.

💰 Keynesian

1936 – 1970

Keynes’s General Theory → fiscal stimulus, multiplier, IS‑LM. Dominates post‑war policy.

🏛 Chicago

1950s – 80s

Friedman, monetarism, rational expectations; pushback on big‑government demand management.

⚙️ New Classical

1970s – 90s

Lucas, Sargent: micro‑foundations, DSGE, policy ineffectiveness under perfect expectations.

🔄 New Keynesian

1990s –  

Sticky prices, Taylor rule, modern DSGE with frictions – backbone of most central‑bank models.

🧠 Behavioural

2000s –  

Kahneman, Thaler: biases, heuristics, prospect theory – integrating psychology & data.