Influential figures

Mike’s Weltanschauung, opinions and views have been shaped by three sets of thoughts: the British economists and moral philosophers (Smith, Mill, Locke et al.), the French Enlightenment philosophers and political scientists (Voltaire, Diderot, Montesquieu et al.), and the Founding Fathers of the United States (Franklin, Jefferson, Washington et al.).

Adam Smith: “The Wealth of Nations”
John Stuart Mill: Free as we
wish unless we harm others
John Locke: Toleration (English version)
Voltaire: La tolérance (version française)
Diderot: “L’homme est le terme unique d’où il faut partir et auquel il faut tout ramenner”
Montesquieu: La séparation des pouvoirs
Benjamin Franklin: The pursuit of happiness
Thomas Jefferson:
“The will of the people is the
only legitimatefoundation
of any government”
George Washington: Founding father from
action to constitution

A number of other influential figures have also played a role. Some of them are pictured below, with a major work or pithy comment.

Albert Camus: “L’homme révolté” (“The Rebel”)
John Maynard Keynes: “The difficulty lies not so much in developing new ideas as in escaping from old ones”
Peter Drucker: Great leaders know that leadership
is responsibility, not rank, privileges or titles
Alexis de Tocqueville: “Liberty cannot be established without morality”
David Ricardo: Comparative advantage
Michael Porter: Competitive strategy and advantage
David Lloyd George: The liberal way
to the welfare state
Mahatma Gandhi: “I would say means are after all everything. As the means, so the end”
E.F. Schumacher: Small is beautiful
Winston Churchill: The Battle of Britain and for democracy’s V...
Joseph Schumpeter:
Creative destruction and innovation
Pierre Mendès-France & Michel Rocard: Comment concilier rigueur économique, morale politique et justice sociale?
Club of Rome: Among the first having pointed
to the limits to growth
Franklin D. Roosevelt: A “New Deal”
John Kenneth Galbraith: “Liberalism is,
I think, resurgent. One reason is that...
people are so painfully aware of the
alternative”
Tom Peters: “The magic formula is
to treat customers like guests
and employees like people”
Jean Janssens: The one (left)
who taught Mike (right)
the basics of economics