Joan Robinson (1903-1983) was one of the greatest economists of the twentieth century and a fearless critic of free-market capitalism. A major figure in the controversial ‘Cambridge School’ of economics in the post-war period, she made fundamental contributions to the economics of international trade and development.

In Economic Philosophy Robinson looks behind the curtain of economics to reveal a constant battle between economics as a science and economics as ideology, which she argued was integral to economics. In her customary vivid and pellucid style, she criticizes early economists Adam Smith and David Ricardo, and neo-classical economists Alfred Marshall, Stanley Jevons and Leon Walras, over the question of value. She shows that what they respectively considered to be the generators of value - labour-time, marginal utility or preferences - are not scientific but ‘metaphysical’, and that it is frequently in ideology, not science, that we find the reason for the rejection of economic theories. She also weighs up the implications of the Keynesian revolution in economics, particularly whether Keynes’s theories are applicable to developing economies. Robinson concludes with a prophetic lesson that resonates in today’s turbulent and unequal economy: that the task of the economist is to combat the idea that the only values that count are those that can be measured in terms of money.

This Routledge Classics edition includes a new foreword by Sheila Dow.

Table of Contents

Foreword to the Routledge Classics Edition Sheila Dow

1. Metaphysics, Morals and Science

2. The Classics: Value

3. The Neo-Classics: Utility

4. The Keynesian Revolution

5. Development and Under-Development

6. What are the Rules of the Game?

Index

Originally published in 1966, this book has enduring validity. In analysing the economic situation of the late 1960s Joan Robinson discusses the contradictions which arise from the need to readjust the organisation of society to the fantastic capacity for producing material wealth that capital accumulation and progress in technology have made possible. She maintains that the late twentieth century economic system is just an awkward corner in a continuing process of historical development .

Originally published in 1970, this book examines the origins of social organizations, the development of Robinson Crusoe economies and the conception of property or rightful ownership, as well as the origins of agriculture, race and class. Discussing commerce and the nation state, capitalist expansion and war between industrial power, the book is a concise yet comprehensive survey of the evolution of the structures of the world's economies and of the ideas which underlie them.

Joan Robinson (1903-1983) was one of the greatest economists of the twentieth century and a fearless critic of free-market capitalism. A major figure in the controversial 'Cambridge School' of economics in the post-war period, she made fundamental contributions to the economics of international trade and development. In Economic Philosophy Robinson looks behind the curtain of economics to reveal a constant battle between economics as a science and economics as ideology, which she argued was integral to economics. In her customary vivid and pellucid style, she criticizes early economists Adam Smith and David Ricardo, and neo-classical economists Alfred Marshall, Stanley Jevons and Leon Walras, over the question of value. She shows that what they respectively considered to be the generators of value - labour-time, marginal utility or preferences - are not scientific but 'metaphysical', and that it is frequently in ideology, not science, that we find the reason for the rejection of economic theories. She also weighs up the implications of the Keynesian revolution in economics, particularly whether Keynes's theories are applicable to developing economies. Robinson concludes with a prophetic lesson that resonates in today's turbulent and unequal economy: that the task of the economist is to combat the idea that the only values that count are those that can be measured in terms of money. This Routledge Classics edition includes a new foreword by Sheila Dow.

Originally published in 1970, this book examines the origins of social organizations, the development of Robinson Crusoe economies and the conception of property or rightful ownership, as well as the origins of agriculture, race and class. Discussing commerce and the nation state, capitalist expansion and war between industrial power, the book is a concise yet comprehensive survey of the evolution of the structures of the world's economies and of the ideas which underlie them.

Originally published in 1966, this book has enduring validity. In analysing the economic situation of the late 1960s Joan Robinson discusses the contradictions which arise from the need to readjust the organisation of society to the fantastic capacity for producing material wealth that capital accumulation and progress in technology have made possible. She maintains that the late twentieth century economic system is just an awkward corner in a continuing process of historical development .

A collection of essays which develop Professor Nell's economic theory of transformational growth. The author's previous titles include "Free Market Conservatism: A Critique of Theory and Practice" and "Beyond the Steady State: A Revival of Growth Theory".

Previous ed. published as: The rate of interest, and other essays.

Joan Robinson shows how the economic mechanisms that produce wealth in the midst of growing misery can be understood. For this purpose she uses the classical theory of accumulation and the modern theory of international trade and finance. Her simple but penetrating analysis illuminates the problems of poverty, accumulation, industrialization and trade, while exposing misleading conceptions of the Third World. Throughout the book, general principles are demonstrated with particular examples, making those principles both clearer and more relevant. The book's conclusion is that the economic problems of the Third World remain rooted in deep-seated political conflicts of national and international interests.

Essays in the Theory of Employment JOAN ROBINSON OXFORD BASIL BLAGKWELL 1947 First printed 1937 Macmillan Co. Ltd. Second Edition October 1947 Reprinted November 1947 Printed in Great Britain for BASIL BLACKWELL MOTT, LIMITED by A. R, MOWBRAY Co. LIMITED, London and . Oxford FOREWORI THERE have been considerable developments since these essays were written, both in theory and in experience. From the point of view of theory, they belong to the period of the first impact upon economic thought of Keynes 3 General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money. From the point of view of experience, they belong to a period when the existence of unemployment over shadowed all economic problems. I think that they are most easily to be understood in the light of their historical setting, and that any attempt to bring them up to date by shifts of emphasis would be confusing. At the same time I believe that they are not without relevance to the dominant problems of the present day. I have therefore not made any substantial changes in the text of the first edition. I have, however, made a few alterations which might equally well have been made in the first instance. . I have removed an error from the argument on Mobility of Labour p. 33, I have simplified the exposition of the effect of inventions on em ployment p. 96, and I have amplified the discussion of the influence of exchange depreciation on the balance of trade p. 143. JOAN ROBINSON CAMBRIDGE February, 1947 FOREWORD TO FIRST EDITION THESE essays represent an attempt to apply the principles of Mr. Keynes General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money to a number of particular problems. References to the General Theory are provided for theconvenience of the reader, not by way of acknowledgment to Mr. Keynes, for the very existence of this book, for what it is worth, must be regarded as an acknowledg ment to the work of Mr. Keynes. The following are reprinted each with some alteration by vi FOREWORD permission of the editors concerned Disguised Unemployment from the Economic Journal, The Long-Period Theory of Employ ment except Section 5 from the eitschnft fur Nationalokonomie and the first part of Some Reflections on Marxist Economics from-the Economic Journal. An Economists Sermon wai originally delivered to a study circle of the Student Christiar Movement at Peterhouse, Cambridge. JOAN ROBINSON CAMBRIDGE October, 1936 CONTENTS PART I PAOK FULL EMPLOYMENT - - -, v - - - i MOBILITY OF LABOUR - - - - - 29 CERTAIN PROPOSED REMEDIES FOR UNEMPLOYMENT 44 DISGUISED UNEMPLOYMENT - - - 60 PART II THE LONG-PERIOD THEORY OF EMPLOYMENT - 75 THE CONCEPT OF ZERO SAVING - - - 101 DISINVESTMENT - - - - - - 112 DIAGRAMMATIC ILLUSTRATIONS - - - - 119 PART III THE FOREIGN EXCHANGES - - - - 134 BEGGAR-MY-NEIGHBOUR REMEDIES FOR UNEMPLOY MENT -------156 PART IV INDETERMINACY - - - - - - 171 AN ECONOMISTS SERMON - - - 175 SOME REFLECTIONS ON MARXIST ECONOMICS - 183 PART I FULL EMPLOYMENT BEFORE discussing the definition and the characteristics of full employment it is necessary to say something about the factors which influence changes in money wages. A problem which has caused much perplexity is presented by the relationship, as it exists in the minds of employees, between changes in real wages and changes in money wages. As to what actually occurs there is no dispute. A cut in money wages will always be resisted by Trade Unions withwhatever force they may command while a rise in prices, such as occurs when there is an increase in effective demand, does not normally lead to the demand for a rise in money wages sufficient to prevent real wages from falling. Even when Trade Unions are strong enough to prevent money wages from falling, they frequently submit to a fall in real wages, brought about by a rise in prices and accompanied by an increase in employment...