ECONOMISTS
They are some of the many economists whose contribution is immense. Ther are, still, others, many of them, too. Therefore, this list is by no means exchaustive but the numbering is an indicative of where I would place them in the order of their impact on the profession and the thinking about important events. In my opinion, Professor William Barnett is the greatest (macro)economist alive. The idea is to guide anyone reading to get to know economists whose understanding of economic phenomenon are far ahead of their contemporaries. This point is, and I assert this, is to not to go along with the status-quo that is very often propogated in the press and also, unfortunately, in academic discourses. Most often, the other side of the story holds the veracious account of the happenings and the public discourse, very often, is not cognizant of the underlying realities. The case of Great Financial Crisis, in the year 2007/08, is a case in point for reasons given below.
Barnett's seminal contribution, out of this many others, to the theory of monetary aggregates is known as Divisia Monetary Aggregates due to this 1980 paper. Divisia monetary aggregate is based on two things: The monetary variables that entered into the index and the weight assigned to each of the variables. The simple sum, unlike Divisia Aggregates, are devoid of the micro-economic theory. His book, published in the 2012, titled, "Getting it Wrong: How Faulty Monetary Statistics Undermine the Fed, the Financial System and the Economy" goes right at the very heart and depth of the financial crisis that was in the making due to upkeep and use of faulty, simple-sum, monetary statistics. I would encourage anyone reading this post to read this book. There are two parts to it. The first part is non-technical and anyone will be able to comprehend this part and understand the nitty-gritties of what exacly went on at the very root of the Federal Reserve System that led to the great(est) financial crisis. Barnett's work stands out due to the fact that many Central Banking Authority have now started maintaining a Divisia Monetary Aggregates publicily (and some central banks, like the European Central Banks are doing so surreptiously). The Center for Financial Stability maintains the Divisia monetary aggregate for the US and other economies.
The link to the most recent review of what is now known in the monetary econonics literature as Barnett Critique is here. My podcast with Professor Joshua Robert Hendrickson on Divisia Monetary Aggregates tries to unpack the contrubution of Professor Barnett to the theory of business cycle. My podcast with Professor William Barnett himself is coming up and this will dig deeper, from both the historical and technical perspective, on the issue of Divisia Monetary aggregates and the monetary policy attitude of the Federal Reserve. You might want to check Barnett's Wikipedia page.
He has published extensively on business cycle research. What sets his work apart is that he has used sphistivated.
Oded Galor
He has published extensively on business cycle research. What sets his work apart is that he has used sphistivated.
Chad Jones
He has published extensively on business cycle research. What sets his work apart is that he has used sphistivated.
He is a Professor at the University of Oregon. He should be the source for anyone looking to get more insight on the Bayesian economteric. He maintain a real time US recession probabilities and this data is even maintained by the FRED Databse.
JOURNALS INDEXED IN SSCI
Social Sciences Citation Index.pdf