The Most Influential People Across History
Find the most influential people in 24 academic disciplines and numerous subdisciplines
Find famous and important people related to your research. This is an excellent tool for research papers, topic papers, and building a bibliography. Using our influence-based algorithm, our rankings synthesize data from Wikipedia, Wikidata, Semantic Scholar, and CrossRef.
Students and researchers now have a fast and reliable way to find influential thinkers from 24 disciplines and 300 sub-disciplines (and growing). If you want to find history’s most influential philsosophers, or the world’s most influential mathematicians currently, now you can.
We also provide custom rankings of people by discipline as well as interviews with influential academics who are currently active.
To use this tool, select the discipline (and optional subdiscipline) relevant to your research, and specify influential academics by history, world, or US. Even results that are counterintuitive are often enlightening (our algorithm always picks up a signal).
Methodology: How and Why We Rank by Influence …
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List of the most influential people in Economics,
#3501
Philip B. Goodwin
#162297
Overall Influence
#3502
Arjen Van Witteloostuijn
#162301
Overall Influence
#3503
Mick Moore
#51231
Overall Influence
1947 - Present (79 years)
Mick Moore is a political economist and professorial fellow at the Institute of Development Studies at the University of Sussex. He is also the founding CEO of the International Centre for Tax and Development.
Go to Profile#3504
Theodore Moran
#126784
Overall Influence
1943 - Present (83 years)
Theodore Harvey Moran is a professor at Georgetown University and holds the Marcus Wallenberg Chair in the International Business and Finance at the School of Foreign Service within the university.
Go to Profile#3505
Aart Kraay
#162451
Overall Influence
#3506
Tor Rødseth
#112692
Overall Influence
1928 - 2007 (79 years)
Tor Rødseth was a Norwegian economist. He was born in Harstad, and graduated with the cand.oecon. degree in 1952. He was a docent at the Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration from 1962 to 1974 and a professor at the University of Bergen from 1974 to 1993.
Go to Profile#3507
Jeffrey Paul Carpenter
#162469
Overall Influence
#3508
Peter John Lambert
#162531
Overall Influence
#3509
Marjorie Grice-Hutchinson
#100186
Overall Influence
1909 - 2003 (94 years)
Marjorie Grice-Hutchinson MBE was an English economist. Early life and education Marjorie Eileen Henrietta Grice-Hutchinson was born in 1909, in Eastbourne, Sussex, the daughter of George Grice-Hutchinson and Edith Louise Eastwick Grice-Hutchinson. Her father was a solicitor. When her father retired to Málaga in 1920, Grice-Hutchinson went with him.
Go to Profile#3510
Raul Fabella
#107565
Overall Influence
1949 - Present (77 years)
Raul V. Fabella is a Filipino academic, economist and National Scientist of the Philippines. He was born to Estelito Fabella and Magdalena Villaseñor in Bacolod, Negros Occidental. Raul is the grandnephew of Gabriel Fabella, father of June 12th. Raul's grandfather Adriano was Gabriel's brother.
Go to Profile#3511
Charles E. Becker
#162591
Overall Influence
#3512
Tamás Szmrecsányi
#132850
Overall Influence
1936 - 2009 (73 years)
Tamás József Károly Márton Szmrecsányi was a Brazilian economist, historian and professor. He fled as a child with his family as a refugee to Brazil when he was 14 years old, fleeing from the conflict of World War II. He studied philosophy at the University of Sao Paulo, earned a doctoral degree and a post-doctorate in economics at the State University of Campinas and the University of Oxford, respectively. He has written not only on economics, but also on the History of Brazil, Agricultural Economics, History of Economic Thought and the History of Science. He has worked as a professor in the...
Go to Profile#3513
Arleen A. Leibowitz
#162639
Overall Influence
1942 - Present (84 years)
#3514
William L. C. Wheaton
#162687
Overall Influence
#3515
Parzival Copes
#43601
Overall Influence
1924 - 2017 (93 years)
Parzival Copes, was a Canadian economist with a particular interest in regional science and specialization in fisheries economics and management. Born in Nakusp, British Columbia, he moved with his family to the Netherlands in 1933 and was educated at Vierde Vijfjarige H.B.S. in Amsterdam from 1936 to 1941. In 1942, he became active in 'underground' activities against the German occupation and in 1944 joined a Dutch resistance army unit. Later that year, he was arrested and spent time in prison and a penal labour camp Erika at Ommen. In April 1945, he escaped from a prison convoy and met up ...
Go to Profile#3516
Neil Malhotra
#83564
Overall Influence
Neil Malhotra is an American political economist. He is the Edith M. Cornell Professor of Political Economy in the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University, where he is also the Louise and Claude N. Rosenbrg, Jr. Director of the Center for Social Innovation. He studies the politics of the United States, survey methodology, and voter behavior in elections, including work on retrospective voting and disaster preparedness and relief politics.
Go to Profile#3517
Heitor Almeida
#88449
Overall Influence
2000 - Present (26 years)
Heitor Almeida is a Brazilian economist, focusing on mergers and acquisitions, financial constraints, international corporate finance, liquidity management, business groups, financial distress, corporate governance, and managerial decision-making. He is currently the Professor of Finance and Stanley C. and Joan J. Golder Chair in Corporate Finance at the University of Illinois.
Go to Profile#3518
Francesco Chirico
#162914
Overall Influence
#3519
Naoyuki Yoshino
#162941
Overall Influence
1950 - Present (76 years)
#3520
Gabrielle Demange
#105142
Overall Influence
1953 - Present (73 years)
Gabrielle Demange is a French economist and currently a professor at the Paris School of Economics. She is on the council of the Econometric Society and a fellow on the CEPR. She was the co-editor of Economic Theory from 1998 to 2004 and an associate editor of the Review of Economic Design. She is a honorary international member of the American Academy of Arts and Science.
Go to Profile#3521
Sergio L. Schmukler
#163049
Overall Influence
#3522
William Nelson Evans
#163111
Overall Influence
#3523
Peter T. Leeson
#163259
Overall Influence
#3524
Mariacristina De Nardi
#126912
Overall Influence
Mariacristina De Nardi is an economist who was born in Treviso, Italy. She is the Thomas Sargent Professor at the University of Minnesota since 2019. In 2013, De Nardi was appointed professor of economics at University College London; since September 2018, she has been a senior scholar at the Opportunity and Inclusive Growth Institute of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. Her research interests include macroeconomics, public economics, wealth distribution, savings, social-insurance reform, social security, household economics, health shocks, medical expenses, fertility and human capital.
Go to Profile#3525
Frank A. Sloan
#113179
Overall Influence
1942 - Present (84 years)
Frank Allen Sloan is an American health economist. As of 2023, he is the J. Alexander McMahon Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Health Policy and Management and Professor of Economics at Duke University.
Go to Profile#3526
Peter J. Sloane
#163491
Overall Influence
#3527
Enrica Detragiache
#153841
Overall Influence
Enrica Detragiache is the head of the Germany Desk of the International Monetary Fund , and the assistant director of the IMF's European division. She formerly taught Economics at Johns Hopkins University, and has published over 70 research papers and articles. Her research covers topics such as labour migration, financial crises, development economics, and corporate finance.
Go to Profile#3528
Rudolf Winter-Ebmer
#80014
Overall Influence
1961 - Present (65 years)
Rudolf Winter-Ebmer is an Austrian economist and professor of labor economics at Johannes Kepler University Linz, where he is also chair of the department of economics. He is also a senior fellow at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Vienna, Austria. Since 2011, he has also been associate editor of the Institute's official journal, Empirical Economics. He has been heading a Christian-Doppler Laboratory of "Ageing, Health and the Labor Market" at the Johannes-Kepler-University of Linz 2014-2021. He is a member of the German Academy of Sciences and a former President of the European Society for Population Economics.
Go to Profile#3529
Jean-Robert Tyran
#130197
Overall Influence
1967 - Present (59 years)
Jean-Robert Tyran is a Swiss economist. He is professor of public economics and was Vice-Rector for Research and International Affairs at the University of Vienna from 2018 until 2022. His main research areas are behavioral and experimental economics.
Go to Profile#3530
Ted C. Schroeder
#163725
Overall Influence
#3531
Leonardo Becchetti
#163731
Overall Influence
1965 - Present (61 years)
#3532
David Alan Aschauer
#163747
Overall Influence
#3533
Youssef Boutros Ghali
#76176
Overall Influence
1952 - Present (74 years)
Youssef Raouf Boutros-Ghali or YBG is an Egyptian economist who served in the government of Egypt as Minister of Finance from 2004 to 2011. He was succeeded by Samir Radwan on 31 January 2011. Education Youssef Boutros-Ghali earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics at Cairo University in 1974. He then earned a Doctor of Philosophy in economics from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1981. He was also a lecturer and research assistant during his stay at MIT.
Go to Profile#3534
Stefano Tarantola
#163986
Overall Influence
#3535
R. J. Kauffman Kauffman
#164062
Overall Influence
#3536
John J. McCusker
#91280
Overall Influence
1939 - Present (87 years)
John J.McCusker II is the Ewing Halsell Distinguished Professor of American History and Professor of Economics at Trinity University, San Antonio, Texas. Early life and education McCusker grew up in upstate New York. He did graduate work at the University of Rochester, where he studied with Robert W. Fogel, the 1993 Nobel Laureate in Economic Science; at the University College of the University of London, where he worked under Harry C. Allen; and at the University of Pittsburgh, where Carter Goodrich directed his doctoral dissertation, receiving his degree in 1970.
Go to Profile#3537
David W. Mullins Jr.
#71257
Overall Influence
1946 - 2018 (72 years)
David Wiley Mullins Jr. was an American economist who served as the 14th vice chairman of the Federal Reserve from 1991 to 1994. Prior to his term as vice chairman, Mullins served as a member of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, taking office in 1990. Before his appointment to the Federal Reserve, he served as the under secretary of the treasury for domestic finance under President George H. W. Bush. Mullins left the government service to join the hedge fund Long Term Capital Management and remained in private finance following its collapse in 1998.
Go to Profile#3538
Geoffrey Maynard
#116040
Overall Influence
1921 - 2017 (96 years)
Geoffrey Walter Maynard was a British economist. Born in Tottenham and educated at the local grammar school , Maynard served with the RAF in the north African theatre during the Second World War. After the war, he was offered a place at the London School of Economics, where he specialized in Keynesian macro-economics and developed an early interest in the economics of inflation. During a tenure as Fellow in Political Economy at Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, he was encouraged by future Nobel Prize winner Simon Kuznets to work on the relationship between growth and inflation. This led to...
Go to Profile#3539
Mark Cooper
#69695
Overall Influence
Mark Cooper is a senior research fellow for economic analysis at the Institute for Energy and the Environment at the Vermont Law School, and a frequent nuclear power industry commentator. Cooper holds a PhD from Yale University and is a former Yale University and Fulbright Fellow. He has provided expert testimony in over 250 cases for public interest clients before state and federal agencies, courts, and legislators in many jurisdictions in the U.S. and Canada. Cooper has published many books and articles on energy, telecommunications and high technology industries.
Go to Profile#3540
Daniel A. Sumner
#164370
Overall Influence
1950 - Present (76 years)
Daniel Alan Sumner is an American economist, currently the Frank H. Buck, Jr. Distinguished Professor and Director of the University of California, Agricultural Issues Center at University of California, Davis. He is also a publisher author.
Go to Profile#3541
Laurence Martin
#22884
Overall Influence
1928 - 2022 (94 years)
Sir Laurence Woodward Martin was a British academic who was the vice-chancellor of Newcastle University from 1978 to 1990. Life and career Martin was born on 30 July 1928 in Cornwall. Educated at St Austell Grammar School, Christ's College, Cambridge and Yale University, Martin joined the Royal Air Force as a Flying Officer in 1948. He married Betty Parnall in 1956 with whom he had two children.
Go to Profile#3542
Brian Davern Wright
#164493
Overall Influence
#3543
Komaruddin Hidayat
#30208
Overall Influence
1953 - Present (73 years)
Komaruddin Hidayat is an Indonesian academic and intellectual. He has been rector of Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University Jakarta since 2006. His intellectual ability was demonstrated at several study and research institutions. Apart from his academic work, he was also a columnist in the mass media.
Go to Profile#3544
Christophe Béné
#164530
Overall Influence
#3545
Mark D. Partridge
#164540
Overall Influence
#3546
Alexis P. Jacquemin
#164590
Overall Influence
#3547
Ozay Mehmet
#121825
Overall Influence
1938 - Present (88 years)
Ozay Mehmet was a Cypriot-Canadian professor emeritus of international affairs at Carleton University in Ottawa, Ontario. Biography Mehmet was born on November 15, 1938 in Nicosia, Cyprus, into a Turkish Cypriot family. He studied at the London School of Economics between 1959 and 1962. Subsequently, he received his MA and PhD in economics at the University of Toronto on a Canadian Commonwealth Scholarship. He taught at various Canadian universities, including the University of Windsor, York University, the University of Toronto, the University of Ottawa, and Carleton University.
Go to Profile#3548
Charles P. Oman
#101328
Overall Influence
1948 - Present (78 years)
Charles Pennington Oman is an American economist. From 1978 through 2010, he worked at the OECD Development Centre in Paris, where he was responsible for policy-oriented research programs and then Head of Strategy. Since 2011, he teaches courses on the Political Economy of International Development and on Economics at the Paris School of International Affairs in the Institute of Political Studies in Paris. He has published widely in the areas of international development, the relationship between globalization and regionalization, new forms of international investment and corporate govern...
Go to Profile#3549
Antoon Kolen
#98851
Overall Influence
1953 - 2004 (51 years)
Anthonius Wilhelmus Johannes Kolen was a Dutch mathematician and Professor at the Maastricht University, in the Department of Quantitative Economics. He is known for his work on dynamic programming, such as interval scheduling and mathematical optimization.
Go to Profile#3550
Bai Chong'en
#89591
Overall Influence
1963 - Present (63 years)
Bai Chong'en is a noted Chinese economist. He holds the Mansfield Freeman Chair in Economics at Tsinghua University. He studied at the University of Science and Technology of China, Harvard University and University of California, San Diego. His research interests are wide and he has published many well-cited papers in a wide range of subjects including those dealing with corporate governance, development economics, industrial and organisational economics, the role of incentives and public economics - often with a focus on China. Bai is an Independent Director of the Board of Directors of Ch...
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