Dieterle serves as Senior Program Consultant for the Michigan Council on Economic Education (MCEE) and is an adjunct professor of economics at Walsh College and a lecturer at University of Michigan-Flint. He has enlisted a host of contributors from middle and high schools as well as colleges and universities to create a nicely accessible biographical source on economic thinkers. Dieterle states in the preface that that the encyclopedia spans the centuries from before Christ with Qin Shi Haung and progresses to the current era with the latest Nobel Laureates. There are only 200 entries in this source and picking those to be included was a challenge. The intent of the book was to “include a broad base of economic philosophies, economic disciplines such as history, development economics, and econometrics, along with thought leaders and policy implementers from the influential economic institutions” (xxxiv).

The encyclopedia begins with a few reference pages that include an alphabetical list of the entries, a chronological guide to related topics, a geographical guide where the entries are listed by region and country, and a guide to the economic philosophies and concepts with the thinkers associated with those topics. The introduction provides a “Family Tree of Economics” with a brief explanation of the various parts of the family such as Early Philosophers, Classical Economists, New Political Economy, Quantitative Revolution, and the New Branches of the Tree.

The first entry is George Akerlof who is known for his work in growth theory, and the last entry is Robert Zoellick, the current president of the World Bank. In between are profiles of thinkers such as Thomas Mun, a 16th century mercantilist who believed in the importance of balance of trade; Jeremy Bentham, an 18th century English philosopher who advocated that consumer satisfaction has an impact on markets; and Beatrice Webb, a cofounder of the London School of Economics. Each entry is at least a page and sometimes longer. After each entry there is a list of both Selected Works by the Economic Thinker and Selected Works about the Economic Thinker. Women make up only 10 percent of the entries in this source. The end of the volume includes a list of Nobel Laureates, an extensive glossary, a selected bibliography, and an index. There is also a list of contributors.

This reference source is an excellent introduction to the thinkers of the discipline of economics. The entries are accessible and easy to read and provide the general reader with a starting point to explore more about the people and the topic of economics. Recommended for all libraries.