Edwin Cannan (3 February 1861 – 8 April 1935) was a British economist and historian of economic thought.

[9][3] His mother died at the age of 38 of tuberculosis in Madeira, Portugal 18 days after her son Edwin was born.

As a follower of William Stanley Jevons, Edwin Cannan is perhaps best known for his logical dissection and destruction of Classical theory in his famous 1894 tract A History of the Theories of Production and Distribution.

During that time, particularly during his long stretch as chairman after 1907, Edwin Cannan shepherded the LSE away from its roots in Fabian socialism into tentative Marshallianism.

He favoured simplicity, clarity, and common sense in the exposition of economics.