What our politicians could learn about poverty from the first-hand experiences of economist Alfred Marshall Posted SunSunday 14 FebFebruary 2021 at 1:24am British economist Alfred Marshall's travels gave him insights his predecessors in the field did not have. ( Print text only He was an English economist (1842-1924) who changed the discipline of economics. He was the originator of the famous diagram that depicts "supply and demand" curves. His most famous student, John Maynard Keynes, eventually revolutionised economics in his own way, after the Great Depression of the 1930s. But it was Marshall's work habits that contributed to his stature as a towering figure of the profession.