To understand the approaches of the various economic philosophers,

the following is an attempt to create a not so friendly conversation Adam

Smith, Karl Marx, John Keynes and Milton Friedman in 2021 over tea, of
course while following social distancing protocols.
KM: Let’s sanitize our hands before we start, which aren’t so invisible
like the market’s, unfortunately.
AS: Yes, if all individuals saved themselves from the infection by
maintaining distancing protocols, in their self-interest, the pandemic
could be controlled by the invisible hand, making everybody better off.
JK: So, I guess we should ask the government to kindly stop intervening
and remove all the protocols, so that the COVID market could flourish
without restrictions, don’t you agree, Mr. Smith?
MF: If I may interrupt Sir, I think that keeping in mind the increasing
demand and overload of the health sector, the government should be
knocking at the doors of laissez-faire market-based tools to address
COVID-19 challenges.
AS: Well said, the invisible hand of the market is very well capable of a
decent distribution of health care facilities. I also think that the economy
wouldn’t have been affected to this extent if there were no such strict
international restrictions. Division of labour is effective only when all the
parts of economy are interconnected. *The extent and easiness of inland
navigation was probably one of the principle causes of improvement of
Egypt (Wealth of Nations, Chapter 3). When the economy is restricted of
“the power of exchange” (Chapter 2), it is bound to suffer.
KM: For division of labour in an economy, the labour should be protected
from the disease too, otherwise infected and dead labour would be of no
use to the economy, since the output derives its value from the labour
time. You should know that all the wealth was purchased by the labour,
And the pandemic has only increased the class struggle by K-shaped
recovery of various sectors, like the informal sector, which is responsible
for livelihood of a vast majority of working class, especially in developing
countries. Like the last recession of 2008 proved me right by exposing
the flaw of unregulated free market, the COVID-19 recession has
brought the inequal distribution of Wealth by the capitalist system to the
world.
JK: And without government interventions, not only deaths would be
uncontrolled, but the change in consumer behaviour, more appropriately,
the decrease in aggregate demand would cause a vicious cycle of a
negative feedback loop where households don’t spend and in turn
receive less income, making savings virtually inefficient. The government
cannot afford waiting for the market to correct itself while millions of
people are in extreme poverty and are on the verge of dying of hunger.
MF: If you remember the golden decade of 1990s, you’d understand that
the price we pay for the freedom and free market economy is worth it,
and that’s the best way to have a growing economy, which makes it
even more appropriate for the current situations, when countries are
trying to recover from the economic setbacks by the pandemic.

JK: This debate can go on endlessly, though unlike our tea break time
unfortunately. I believe that the governments should be using fiscal and
monetary policies for the fast recovery, rather than sitting back. Though,
it was a stimulating debate, another needed and helpful stimulation
package of intellectual kind for the world. Let’s not forget that “The ideas
of economists and political philosophers, both when they are right and
when they are wrong are more powerful than is commonly understood.
Indeed, the world is ruled by little else. Practical men, who believe
themselves to be quite exempt from any intellectual influences, are
usually slaves of some defunct economist.”
To summarise how I relate to the various philosophers, I think
that all philosophers have valid points to make, Adam Smith reminds us
to keep the economic fundamentals in mind while we attempt to fight for
the economic recovery from the pandemic. Karl Marx makes us aware to
strive for an equitable growth and to provide social support to the low-
income workers hit by the pandemic.
Apart from these two philosophers from the Industrial Revolution, John
Keynes can provide few directions to the government on dealing with the
recession and help to stimulate the economy again. While, Milton
Friedman tells us to encourage businesses and innovation, and keep in
mind the opportunity costs of the government interventions.

I can leave some book titles here. You can read them for reference. It will make the piece even
better. You can look at writings of Alex M. Thomas. He works on the history of economic thought.
Also look at The Age of Fragmentation: A History of Contemporary Economic Thought by
Alessandro Roncaglia.