Lost Prophets: An Insider's History of the Modern Economists

While Malabre overtly presents an ``insider's'' study, this is really a sophisticated inquiry of the intricate, strained relationship between the country's business and political history and the ``prophets'' of economic thought. His coverage of the 1944-1992 period is filled with astute observations about the ``seminal'' theories and often hidden foibles of the individuals who advanced them. Malabre, a Wall Street Journal reporter, follows the rise and apparent ``decline'' of economics in Washington, academia and on Wall Street. His recap of his newspaper's role in the ascendancy of Arthur B. Laffer's supply-side theories is pungent, as are his thoughts on Bretton Woods, forecasting and the inevitability of business cycles. Profiles of Keynes, Milton Friedman, Arthur Burns, Alan Greenspan, etc., are superb, although material on the ``younger'' economists (including Laura d'Andrea Tyson) is skimpy. This study should find its place next to Robert Heilbroner's The Worldly Philosophers as intelligent reading on Carlyle's ``dismal science.'' Photos not seen by PW. (Nov.)