David Ernest William Laidler (born 12 August 1938) has been one of the foremost scholars of monetarism. He published major economics journal articles on the topic in the late 1960s and early 1970s. His book, The Demand for Money, was published in four editions from 1969 through 1993 (with slightly altered subtitles), initially setting forth the stability of the relationship between income and the demand for money and later taking into consideration the effects of legal, technological and institutional changes on the demand for money. The book has been translated into French, Spanish, Italian, Japanese, and Chinese.

His continued work on the demand for money through the 1990s and into the 21st century (with William Robson) led to his receiving the Donner Prize in 2004 for Two Percent Target: Canadian Monetary Policy Since 1991, published by the C.D. Howe Institute, with which Laidler maintains a close working relationship.

His other major publication, Introduction to Microeconomics, was also published in four editions, from 1974 - 1994. It was translated into Spanish, Polish, Italian, and Bulgarian.

Later in his career, Laidler shifted focus to the history of economic thought. Despite being retired, he is still an active researcher and scholar.

Tynemouth School, Tynemouth, Northumberland, England, GCE 'O' Level 1953, 'A' Level, 1955, 'S' Level, 1956
London School of Economics, B.Sc. Econ. (Economics Analytic and Descriptive) 1st Class Honours, 1959
University of Syracuse, M.A. (Economics), 1960
University of Chicago, Ph.D. (Economics), 1964

In addition to many visiting appointments, David Laidler has held full time teaching positions at the University of California, Berkeley, the University of Essex, and the University of Manchester, but from 1975 onward his primary academic affiliation has been with the University of Western Ontario.

He was named a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 1982 and served as president of the Canadian Economic Association, 1987 - 88.