Anwar Shaikh passed away this month, on October 6, leaving behind an intellectual legacy that will endure for generations, and a boundless enthusiasm for ideas that touched everyone who got to know him or took his classes. With his passing, political economy loses not only one of its sharpest and most creative minds and one of the most original, rigorous, and influential critical economists of the past fifty years, but also a remarkably generous mentor, a committed public intellectual, and a tireless supporter of heterodox and progressive initiatives wherever they emerged.Born in Pakistan in 1945, Anwar spent much of his childhood moving across countries as the son of a diplomat, an experience that exposed him early to different societies, cultures, and political realities. He eventually settled in the United States, where he earned an engineering degree from Princeton University in 1965 and later a PhD in economics from Columbia University in 1973. These formative years coincided with the social and political upheavals of the late 1960s, which left a lasting imprint on both his intellectual development and his lifelong political commitments. Even before completing his doctoral studies, he joined the faculty of the New School for Social Research, the institution that would remain his academic home for more than five decades.Anwar joined the New School in 1972, at a pivotal moment in its history. The Economics Department had only recently been reconstituted as a formal department, and the University was consolidating its identity as the principal American home of heterodox economics. Alongside successive generations of colleagues at the New School, Anwar helped consolidate the New School’s reputation as a distinctive centre for heterodox economics, while contributing decisively to the renewal of classical political economy and Marxian scholarship. There, he also helped train generations of critical economists from every corner of the world, many of whom came to the New School precisely because he was there. It is difficult to imagine the international reputation of the New School’s Economics Department, now confronting significant challenges to its historic mission, without Anwar’s extraordinary scholarly presence and decades-long commitment to its ideals.At the heart of his work was an ambitious task: demonstrating that the classical political economy of Smith, Ricardo, Marx, and Keynes could provide a more realistic and empirically grounded understanding of capitalism than the increasingly abstract and typically detached representations of mainstream economics. His contributions were profound and wide-ranging. From his theory of “real competition”, which described capitalism as a turbulent process driven by rivalry among firms rather than by the harmonious equilibria of textbook models, to his devastating critiques of the neoclassical (“humbug”) production function, from his reconstruction of national accounts through a Marxian lens, to his demolition of the conventional theory of comparative advantage, Anwar consistently exposed the fragilities of orthodox economic reasoning, laying bare its internal contradictions and making them impossible to ignore.His lifelong project was to rebuild political economy on firmer analytical and empirical foundations, an effort thatreached its fullest expression in Capitalism: Competition, Conflict, Crises, a monumental synthesis that integrated classical, Marxian, and Keynesian insights into a coherent framework for understanding contemporary capitalism. Long before its publication in 2016, the manuscript had already achieved near-legendary status among students, colleagues, and scholars, many of whom had heard about it for years and eagerly awaited its appearance. When it did, it quickly became a reference point for a new generation of heterodox economists and confirmed Anwar’s place among the leading political economists of his generation.Much has been said about his intellectual legacy, not least in many social media posts and written tributes published in the days following his passing. What I would like to remember here, however, is also the man himself. I first met Anwar in Buenos Aires in 1996, when he was invited to deliver a series of lectures to audiences ranging from students and academics to trade unionists and social activists. A personal anecdote from that visit comes to mind. At the time, a group of economics students at the University of Buenos Aires (UBA) had organized to challenge the conceptual and ideological foundations of an economics curriculum heavily influenced by orthodox economics, a trait that, unfortunately, it largely retains to this day. Anwar met with us to discuss the importance of that struggle and the existence of intellectual alternatives. During the meeting, one of the students asked him: “Why did you abandon engineering and turn to economics?” Anwar’s reply, as I remember it, was characteristically simple and illuminating: “Because when I asked myself why countries like, for instance, my own Pakistan lacked enough bridges and other engineering infrastructure that could improve people’s lives, I realized that the problem was not that we did not know what was needed, or even how to build it. The problem lay in the social system itself.”He might just as well have told us: “It is the (critique of political) economy, stupid”— after all, we were living through the 1990s. In any case, through that deceptively simple observation, he strengthened our conviction that economics, or, rather political economy, should not merely teach technical tools but equip us to understand and debate the broader forces and social structures that shape the development trajectories of our societies. For a group of students searching for alternatives to the intellectual certainties of the day, it was one of those rare lessons that remain with you for life.Years later, I had the privilege of studying under him at the New School, where I also worked as his teaching assistant. He was an exceptional lecturer: meticulous in preparation, deeply engaged with ideas, and wholly committed to his students. His famous yellow legal pads were a permanent fixture in the classroom. He would often stop in the middle of a lecture to rewrite a sentence, refine an argument, or rethink an example. Even these interruptions became part of the lesson, as they revealed a scholar constantly questioning, revising, and improving his own thinking. It often seemed that he was teaching not only the students in front of him, but also generations yet to come.Indeed, what many outside his immediate circles may not know is the extraordinary generosity with which he supported heterodox initiatives across the world. He never treated critical economics as the preserve of a handful of prestigious institutions. On the contrary, he readily devoted his time, energy, and intellectual authority to projects aimed at broadening the reach of political economy beyond its traditional centres. In Argentina, he strongly supported the creation of the Master’s Programme in Development Economics at the National University of San Martín (UNSAM), where I currently teach, serving as a member of its Academic Committee, and later played a leading role as a keynote speaker at the inaugural event of the University’s Doctoral Programme in Political Economy. Such commitments were not exceptions. They were the expression of a deeply held belief—that critical ideas flourish when they are shared generously and take root in new places. Anwar understood this better than most, and put it into practicethroughout his life.For countless students, colleagues, and activists around the world, Anwar was more than a scholar. He was a mentor, a source of intellectual courage, and a reminder that there are always alternatives worth exploring. He devoted his life to questioning received wisdom, cultivating critical thought, and helping others do the same. Few economists have done more to challenge the foundations of mainstream economics while offering such rigorous and compelling alternatives. Yet it is not his scholarship alone that will be remembered. Those of us who had the privilege of knowing him will also remember his warmth, his generosity, his enthusiasm for new ideas, and his unfailing readiness to share his time and knowledge with others. His books will continue to be read and debated for many years to come. For many of us, however, an equally enduring part of Anwar’s legacy will be the encouragement he gave, the curiosity he inspired, and the example he set.Martin Abeles is a professor of Development Economics at the Institute for Advanced Social Studies of the National University of San Martín (UNSAM), Argentina, and IDEAs Regional Director of Research and Policy for Latin America and the Caribbean.This article was originally published on Network Ideas.