This course provides an introduction to the history of economic thought. Past ideas about economics are important because they inform us about the present framework of economic analysis as well as the world we live in. Indeed, it is impossible to gain a critical understanding of current economic theory without an excursion into the past. Why were some ideas abandoned and others retained? What does this mean for our understanding of the society we live in? The focus of this course will be primarily on the most important economic thinkers of the past centuries, focusing on Smith, Ricardo, Malthus, Marx, Keynes, Hayek and Friedman. Attention will be given to the historical context in which these economists operated. We will discover the two-way thread that ties the real world to economic ideas: social and economic conditions affect the evolution of economic ideas, while economic ideas deeply impact socio- economic reality. This connection holds now as it did in the past.