Joan Robinson(1903 — 1983)
Joan Robinson
Royaume-Uni, Royaume-Uni de Grande-Bretagne et d'Irlande
7 min read
Joan Robinson (1903-1983) was a British economist of the Cambridge school and a leading figure of the post-Keynesian movement. She is known for her theory of imperfect competition and her contributions to the analysis of capital accumulation.
Frequently asked questions
Famous Quotes
« The purpose of studying economics is not to acquire a set of ready-made answers to economic questions, but to learn how to avoid being deceived by economists. »
Key Facts
- Born in 1903 in Camberley (England) into an upper-middle-class family
- Published 'The Economics of Imperfect Competition' in 1933, reshaping the theory of markets
- Member of the 'Cambridge Circus' that helped develop Keynes's 'General Theory' (1936)
- A central figure in the 'two Cambridges controversy' over the nature of capital during the 1950s and 1960s
- Died in 1983 in Cambridge, never having received the Nobel Prize despite her renown
Works & Achievements
A founding work that renewed the analysis of markets where firms hold power over prices. It established Robinson's reputation when she was just 30 years old.
An educational work that makes Keynes's revolutionary ideas on unemployment and employment accessible.
A rigorous and original analysis of Karl Marx's economic thought, a rare undertaking for an economist trained at Cambridge.
A major treatise on long-term economic growth, regarded as her post-Keynesian theoretical masterpiece.
A critical reflection on the ideological foundations of economics, in which she urges readers not to be fooled by economists.
The article that sparked the “Cambridge capital controversy” over the measurement of capital, a major debate in 20th-century economic theory.
Anecdotes
In 1933, at just 30 years old, Joan Robinson published 'The Economics of Imperfect Competition', a book that shook up economic theory. At almost the same moment, the American economist Edward Chamberlin developed similar ideas: the two independent works would leave a lasting mark on the analysis of markets where competition is not perfect.
Joan Robinson was part of the small circle of young Cambridge economists who discussed John Maynard Keynes's ideas before the publication of his 'General Theory' in 1936. This group, nicknamed the 'Cambridge Circus', met to debate line by line the theories that would revolutionize economics.
Despite her worldwide fame, Joan Robinson never received the Nobel Prize in Economics, even though many considered her an obvious candidate. Some believe that her political views, deemed too radical, and her admiration for the economic experiments in China and Cuba cost her the award.
Joan Robinson was one of the leading figures in a famous intellectual dispute known as the 'Cambridge capital controversy', pitting the economists of Cambridge in England against those of Cambridge in Massachusetts (United States). The debate centered on an abstract but fundamental question: how do you measure 'capital' in an economy?
A tireless traveler, Joan Robinson went several times to India, China, and North Korea to see different economic systems with her own eyes. She believed that you could not understand economics through equations alone, but also by looking at how real societies actually worked.
Primary Sources
This book is presented to the analytical economist as a box of tools. It is an essay in the technique of economic analysis, and can make only an indirect contribution to our knowledge of the actual world.
The student of economic theory is taught to write O = f (L, C) where L is a quantity of labour, C a quantity of capital and O a rate of output of commodities. He is instructed to assume all workers alike, and to measure L in man-hours of labour; he is told something about the index-number problem in choosing a unit of output; and then he is hurried on to the next question, in the hope that he will forget to ask in what units C is measured.
The purpose of studying economics is not to acquire a set of ready-made answers to economic questions, but to learn how to avoid being deceived by economists.
The conception of the rate of interest as the price which equates the demand for and supply of saving... is a complete misunderstanding of the mechanism at work.
Key Places
Town in southern England where Joan Robinson was born in 1903 into an upper-middle-class British family.
The heart of Robinson's entire career: she studied here, taught here for decades, and developed the post-Keynesian school here. Cambridge became the world center of a major economic debate.
Women's college at Cambridge where Robinson studied economics in the early 1920s, at a time when women did not yet have full university rights.
Robinson stayed here just after her marriage and returned several times; this contact with a developing economy left a lasting mark on her thinking.
A country Robinson visited on several occasions to study its planned economy, showing an interest that would earn her criticism.
Robinson died in Cambridge in 1983, where she had spent the greater part of her intellectual life.
