Why do you think economists have different belief systems/theories on economics?

The principal disagreement among economists is a matter of economic philosophy. There are two major schools of economic thought: Keynesian economics and free-market, or laissez-faire, economics.

Keynesian economists, named after John Maynard Keynes, who first formulated these ideas into an all-encompassing economic theory in the 1930s, believe that a well-functioning and flourishing economy may be created with a combination of the private sector and government help.

By government help, Keynes meant an active monetary and fiscal policy, which works to control the money supply and adjust Federal Reserve interest rates in accordance with changing economic conditions.

By contrast, the free-market economists advocate a government "hands-off" policy, rejecting the theory that government intervention in the economy is beneficial. Free-market economists—and there are many distinguished advocates of this theory, including Nobel Memorial Prize winner Milton Friedman—prefer to let the marketplace sort out any economic problems. That would mean no government bailouts, no government subsidies of business, no government spending explicitly designed to stimulate the economy, and no other efforts by the government to help what the economists believe is the ability of a free economy to regulate itself.

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