An industrialist and Utopian Socialist who implemented progressive reforms in labor conditions at his New Lanark factory, showing that capitalism could coexist with humane treatment of workers.

A prominent economist and philosopher who expanded on Utopian Socialist ideas and became an early advocate for women's rights, arguing for the reformability of capitalism, especially in wealth distribution.

A revolutionary thinker famous for "The Communist Manifesto" and "Das Kapital," where he critiqued capitalism and predicted its eventual collapse due to inherent systemic contradictions.

An academic outlier who proposed that economic depressions were caused by excess savings and claimed that imperialism was capitalism's way of avoiding internal economic issues through external conquest.

An eccentric economist known for his critique of the American market system and the concept of the leisure class, exploring the sociological aspects of economic behavior rather than justifying societal structures.

A leading economist who addressed the causes of the Great Depression, advocating for government intervention to stimulate economies and whose theories dominated mid-20th-century economic thought.

An economist who highlighted the role of entrepreneurship and innovation in disrupting social norms through "creative destruction," offering a dynamic view of capitalism's evolution and eventual decline.