Late last year I asked the House of Commons Library to tell me which economists were most cited in the House, and posted a graph on my website illustrating trends over time. Now we’ve added Schumpeter, Blanchflower and Galbraith into the mix, and the results are as follows…
Mariana Mazzucato is level with Karl Marx, and both are more cited than Galbraith, Hayek, and particularly Schumpeter – who has had zero mentions in the last year. Blanchflower had a period of great popularity in the noughties and together with Friedman and Stiglitz is still doing relatively well, but it’s Keynes and Smith who consistently battle for top place.
The House of Commons Library set out several caveats to bear in mind when reading this table.
* The number reflects the number of contributions, not the number of times the name has been said. If a member had mentioned Keynes several times in one speech, this is counted once.
* The table includes contributions made by Members of the House of Lords, in the Lords chamber.
* Searching techniques were used to attempt to exclude instances where an economist name could have been mentioned in regards to something else. For example to exclude instances of ‘Milton Keynes’. In doing so some contributions may have been lost.
* Information management systems have changed over time and so be wary of the dates.