Here, Hans Putnoki and Bodo Hilgers present portraits of the most important economists -- from Adam Smith via John M. Keynes right up to the Nobel laureates of 2009 — in chronological order. In this new and very clear way, they are able to illustrate the historical backgrounds as well as the way they influenced one another. In addition, they use cartoons to summarize the central aspects of the relevant economic theories while also providing an introduction to them. Finally, they depict the lives and works of the economists. Special overviews offer further information on economic schools of thought and overlapping theories.