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User: Who is Khaldun, mentioned in the same breath as Adam Smith, Milton Friedman, and Karl Marx?

Who is Khaldun, mentioned in the same breath as Adam Smith, Milton Friedman, and Karl Marx?

Assistant: Khaldun refers to Ibn Khaldūn 1332–1406, the North African Arab historian, sociologist, and early economic thinker.

Khaldun refers to Ibn Khaldūn (1332–1406), the North African Arab historian, sociologist, and early economic thinker. When people mention him alongside Adam Smith, Milton Friedman, and Karl Marx, they’re pointing to his role as one of the foundational figures in economic thought, even though he lived centuries earlier.

Why Ibn Khaldun is mentioned with major economists

Ibn Khaldun’s most famous work, the Muqaddimah (“Prolegomena”), is a sweeping analysis of history, society, labor, taxation, markets, and the rise and fall of civilizations. Modern scholars often treat it as:

• one of the earliest works of political economy
• a precursor to classical economics and economic sociology
• a foundational text in historiography and social theory

Key ideas that put him in the company of Smith/Friedman/Marx

1. Labor theory of value (before Smith and Marx)

He argued that labor is the source of value in production—centuries before Smith and Marx developed their own labor theories.

1. Insights about taxation (before Friedman/Laffer Curve)

He observed that high tax rates reduce incentives to produce, shrink the tax base, and ultimately reduce revenue, while lower taxes can increase economic activity. This is essentially the Laffer Curve, articulated ~600 years earlier.

1. Analysis of markets and specialization

He described how specialization and urban development increase productivity—similar to Adam Smith’s later observations.

1. Cyclical theory of states and economies

Ibn Khaldun proposed that societies follow cycles of rise, growth, and decline based on social cohesion (ʿasabiyyah) and economic conditions.

Why economists rediscovered him

In the 20th century, especially after the translation of the Muqaddimah, economists and social scientists realized how astonishingly modern many of his insights were. Friedrich Hayek, Arnold Toynbee, and others praised him as one of the greatest minds of the medieval world.

In short, when someone mentions Khaldun alongside Smith, Friedman, and Marx, they’re referring to Ibn Khaldun, arguably the earliest major theorist to analyze economics, taxation, labor, and society in a systematic, quasi-scientific way.