Since the days of Adam Smith, economists have grappled with a series of familiar problems - but often their ideas are hard to digest before even trying to apply them to today's issues. Linda Yueh, an accomplished economist herself, explains in The Great Economists the key thoughts of history's greatest economists, how their lives and times affected their ideas, how our lives have been influenced by their work, and how they could help with the policy challenges that we face today. She guides the readers through questions such as: what do the ideas of Karl Marx tell us about the likely future for the Chinese economy? With globalization in trouble, what can we learn about handling Brexit and Trumpism? In the light of current economic problems, and in particular economic growth, Yueh explores the thoughts of economists from Adam Smith and David Ricardo through Joan Robinson and other marvelous minds. After all, what can the ideas of history's greatest economists tell us about the most important issues of our time.