https://a16z.com/the-techno-optimist-manifesto/ " Techno-optimism is the belief that rapid technological progress is the main driver of human prosperity and should be pursued as a moral imperative. It argues that: Growth = Good: Innovation creates abundance, longer lives, and better living standards. Barriers = Bad: Regulation, caution, and pessimism slow down progress and should be resisted. Technology as Solution: Challenges like poverty, disease, and climate change are best solved by accelerating science and technology rather than restricting them. In short: Techno-optimism sees faster innovation as the surest path to human flourishing — and treats resistance to technological progress as harmful. " Here’s a structured overview of the major schools of economic thought, mapped across time, followed by an estimate of which views dominate public and policy thinking today. 📜 Timeline of Major Economic Schools  1.⁠ ⁠Mercantilism (1500s–1700s) Core idea: National wealth measured by gold/silver; exports > imports; heavy state control. Influence: Guided colonial empires, trade monopolies, and tariffs.  2.⁠ ⁠Classical Economics (1776–1870) Key figures: Adam Smith, David Ricardo, John Stuart Mill. Core idea: Free markets, division of labour, “invisible hand”; emphasis on production and growth. Impact: Industrial Revolution policy, laissez-faire capitalism.  3.⁠ ⁠Marxism & Socialist Economics (mid-1800s–present) Key figure: Karl Marx. Core idea: Critique of capitalism, labour theory of value, class struggle, state ownership. Impact: Inspired communist revolutions, socialist policies, labour movements.  4.⁠ ⁠Marginalism & Neoclassical Economics (1870s–present) Key figures: Jevons, Walras, Marshall. Core idea: Value determined by marginal utility; equilibrium analysis; rational individuals. Impact: Foundation of modern mainstream economics, microeconomics.  5.⁠ ⁠Keynesian Economics (1930s–present) Key figure: John Maynard Keynes. Core idea: Markets can fail (esp. in depressions); governments should manage demand using fiscal & monetary policy. Impact: Guided post–WWII Western economies, welfare state expansion.  6.⁠ ⁠Monetarism & Chicago School (1950s–1980s) Key figure: Milton Friedman. Core idea: Control money supply to manage inflation; limit government intervention. Impact: Reaganomics, Thatcherism, central bank independence.  7.⁠ ⁠Austrian School (late 1800s–present, revived 1970s) Key figures: Carl Menger, Ludwig von Mises, Friedrich Hayek. Core idea: Importance of entrepreneurship, spontaneous order, critique of central planning. Impact: Free-market think tanks, libertarian movements.  8.⁠ ⁠Development Economics (1940s–present) Core idea: Structural transformation, role of institutions, tackling poverty in Global South. Impact: World Bank, UN development policy, debates on aid.  9.⁠ ⁠New Keynesian & New Classical Synthesis (1980s–present) Core idea: Rational expectations (New Classical) + sticky wages/prices (New Keynesian). Impact: Dominant academic framework; forms the basis of central bank models today. 10.⁠ ⁠Modern Schools (1990s–present) Behavioural Economics: Psychology meets economics (Kahneman, Thaler). Post-Keynesian / MMT (Modern Monetary Theory): Governments with sovereign currencies can run large deficits to ensure employment. Ecological Economics: Sustainability, climate change, “beyond GDP”. Techno-Optimist / Data-driven Economics: Big data, market design, platform economies.