• The Big Three in Economics

  • Adam Smith, Karl Marx, and John Maynard Keynes
  • By: Mark Skousen
  • Narrated by: Jeff Riggenbach
  • Length: 9 hrs and 6 mins
  • 4.2 out of 5 stars (645 ratings)

Access a growing selection of included Audible Originals, audiobooks, and podcasts.
You will get an email reminder before your trial ends.
Audible Plus auto-renews for $7.95/mo after 30 days. Upgrade or cancel anytime.
The Big Three in Economics  By  cover art

The Big Three in Economics

By: Mark Skousen
Narrated by: Jeff Riggenbach
Try for $0.00

$7.95 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $15.56

Buy for $15.56

Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.

Publisher's summary

The Big Three in Economics reveals the battle of ideas among the three most influential economists in world history: Adam Smith, representing laissez faire; Karl Marx, reflecting the radical socialist model; and John Maynard Keynes, symbolizing big government and the welfare state. History comes alive in this fascinating story of opposing views that continue to play a fundamental role in today's politics and economics.

In the 21st century, Adam Smith's "invisible hand" model has gained the upper hand, and capitalism has ultimately won the ideological battle over socialism and interventionism. But even in the era of globalization and privatization, Keynesian and Marxist ideas continue to play a significant role in economic policy in the public and private sectors.

©2007 Mark Skousen (P)2007 Blackstone Audio Inc.

Critic reviews

"Thoughtful, acutely observed and profoundly moving....Barker mixes brilliantly observed contemporary realism and mystical overtones with dazzling skill. The book has the grip of a superior thriller while introducing, with no sense of strain, a sense of sorrowful mortality that lingers long after the last page." (Publishers Weekly)

What listeners say about The Big Three in Economics

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    341
  • 4 Stars
    162
  • 3 Stars
    84
  • 2 Stars
    34
  • 1 Stars
    24
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    291
  • 4 Stars
    126
  • 3 Stars
    51
  • 2 Stars
    8
  • 1 Stars
    6
Story
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    263
  • 4 Stars
    120
  • 3 Stars
    56
  • 2 Stars
    25
  • 1 Stars
    18

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

Cut and paste

This book is ok. Unfortunately it is pretty much a "cut and paste" book assembeled from his earlier works. Instead of this one, buy "The history of modern economics" by the same author.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

45 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars

Two for One

If you listened to Skousen's Making of Modern Economics then there really is no reason to pick up this volume. There are whole passages lifted from the prior text and this volume offeres really no new insight. This is more of an abridged version of his earlier volume. There is a lot of really good theory in this book and perhaps a little more focused that the purposely broader volume published earlier. I recommend it for someone who just wants the major thinkers instead of the progression of economic though.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

31 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Quality economic intro, but not without bias

This was my first book about pure economics (vs. economic history) and I learned a tremendous amount. Skousen takes a circumspect approach to each school of thought, briefly addressing the biography of each character and then describing his ideas and their ramifications.

It's worth pointing out that book is really about the big 3 schools of thought, rather than just the central personalities of the "Big Three". Skousen addresses the primary evangelists of each school who followed the three greats as well. Overall, his coverage of the topic felt thorough as he deftly switches between history, the nuts of bolts of each theory, and the effects of each.

One word of caution, however. I expected this book to be more "Just the facts, Ma'am" as it discussed each school of thought, leaving true evaluation of the theories up to the reader. However Skousen's neo-classical bent comes through almost immediately. His opinion is well-reasoned and I found myself agreeing with it almost unanimously, but the title left me expecting something slightly different than what the book delivered, which made it a 4-star overall.

The reading didn't detract from the text. Hey, we're talking economic theory, right? How much do you expect with regards to dramatic reading?

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

18 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars

dated and ideologically driven

Okay so it's bound to be dated, right? My problem is with its ideological stance. I was really excited to get 9 hours of info about these economists. I was not prepared for attacks on Marx's character, using such words as "demonic" and "depraved" to describe him. In addition the author goes to pains to find evidence that Smith believed in God, of which there is little to none. These character notes are absolutely silly in a book of this nature, and made me suspect the quality of all of the information. Is he so determined in his opinions that he is unable to give a full account of which practices work and what don't? I am not at all confident.
And of course aside from that, his triumphalist last chapter, in which he maintains (spoiler alert!) that Adam Smith has been proven undeniably right, is entirely thrown in to question these days.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

15 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars

Not a hint of the problems described by Dickens!

As the book tried to cover the three economists, we were taken from Adam Smith's Wealth of Nation (published in 1776) to the work of John Maynard Keynes in the early part of the twentieth century. Yet, the book seems to pretend that the world as described by Charles Dickens did not exist.

None of the problems of Dickens, the issues of company towns, of the struggles of group like the Appalachian coal miners, or even the current labor issues with Walmart were even hinted at in the book. It is as if these very real world problems were not worth addressing, because they do not fit in the ideological box of the laissez faire capitalist.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

13 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

A great introduction into the history of economics

I fairly don't understand people who complain this book is biased. So what? The bias is easily distinguishable and it doesn't compromise the facts presented in the book. You don't need to convert yourself in to a free market economist to learn a bit of the history. At worst, you would know one biased point and it'd give you an even better perspective while reading a different point of view on the same economists or events.

As the author noted, it is important to try to avoid discrediting all of the person's work just because his or her major theory was proven or considered false (he was talking about Marx, btw). Thus if you disagree with the author on some major grounds, I think it's always a good exercise to try to find things that you agree with and can make use of.

Good book, great narration. Giving four stars because the story may have been a bit monotonous at times.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

11 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Another Ayn Rand disciple?

This would have been much better if it had been a more balanced book. It is definitely in the free market + religion + tea party ballpark. If that's your inclination then you'll like it. But if you want an objective and balanced view of economics ... definitely pick another book than this.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

11 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars

Market Uber Alles

This is a good introduction to the basic catechisms of market fundamentalism. It takes its small, dull place in the long line of literature devoted to telling us why it is actually good for everyone that the rich get richer. Adam Smith shows that markets grow wealth, almost by magic, a bigger pie for everyone, if only governments will get out of the way. Malthus, Ricardo, and Marx go badly wrong, we are assured, by asserting that value is somehow related to labor and that there might be conflicts in distribution. It is a little hard in the current economic climate to read the old free market lullabies that put Greenspan and Bush's SEC to sleep while bankers looted the treasury and set up their own private tax farming system, possibly wrecking the nation. In typical fashion, the book shows "scientific" demonstrations of market-created prosperity by carefully selected examples and vast historical exclusions. With scientists like these, who needs surrealists? One shibboleth that I get especially tired of hearing is the fact that reproduction rates decline in richer nations, thereby disproving Malthus. But a "nation" is not an "economy," where labor supplies and markets must continue to expand over the borders if the nation is to get "richer." Why exactly markets won't work if limited by national boundaries, but will somehow work within planetary boundaries is something never explained. It just might have something to do with currency manipulations and labor markets divided up into different legal systems. It is now 2009. It is time we had some alternatives to the utopian ideologies of the Austrian and Chicago School cheerleaders who have just driven us off the cliff. Wish Audible would widen the economics selections.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

10 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

Defence for Free Market Economics

The author unabashedly strives to demonstrate the enduring superiority of laissez faire economics. This is his prerogative, but it leaves the listener feeling that something is missing (for instance, consider the increasing criticism of globalization policies - claiming to promote free-trade - from different corners of the world). However, good narration, and an engaging account of the big three in Economics.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

10 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

What you really need to know

That is what is in this book and I loved it. You can't go wrong if you buy this book.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

8 people found this helpful