Great Thinkers

Meet the great minds whose ideas have shaped the world — philosophers, scientists, artists, leaders, and revolutionaries whose thinking still matters today.

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Subject: Economics × Critical thinking ×
Economics
Ayn Rand
1905–1982 · St Petersburg, Russia / United States
Ayn Rand (1905–1982) was a Russian-American economist, novelist and philosopher. She was born Alisa Rosenbaum in St Petersburg, Russia, and lived through the Russian Revolution…
Critical thinking Critical literacy Collaboration
"I swear by my life and my love of it that I will never live for the sake of another…"
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Economics
Claudia Goldin
1946-present · United States
Claudia Goldin is an American economist and economic historian. In 2023, she won the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences, becoming the first woman to win…
Critical thinking Research skills Scientific thinking Ethical thinking +1
"I have always thought of myself as a detective."
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Economics
Esther Duflo
1972-present · France / United States
Esther Duflo is a French-American economist. In 2019 she became, at age 46, the youngest person ever to win the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic…
Scientific thinking Ethical thinking Research skills Problem solving +1
"It is not the magnitude of the problem that determines whether we can do something about it."
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Economics
John Maynard Keynes
1883–1946 · Cambridge, England
John Maynard Keynes (1883–1946) was a British economist whose ideas changed the way governments manage their economies. He grew up in Cambridge, England, studied mathematics…
Critical thinking Critical literacy Metacognition
"In the long run we are all dead."
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Economics
Karl Marx
1818-1883 · Germany / England
Karl Marx (1818-1883) was a German economist, philosopher, historian, and political thinker whose ideas have shaped the modern world more than almost any other thinker…
Critical thinking Ethical thinking Research skills Cultural heritage and identity +1
"The philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways; the point, however, is to change it."
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Economics
Michael Porter
b. 1947 · United States
Michael Eugene Porter (born 1947) is an American academic whose work on competitive strategy, national competitiveness, and the economic analysis of healthcare and social problems…
Critical thinking Scientific thinking Research skills Problem solving +1
"The essence of strategy is choosing what not to do."
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