Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-hc48f Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-28T08:00:44.928Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

“Your Position is Thoroughly Orthodox and Entirely Wrong”: Nicholas Kaldor and Joan Robinson, 1933–1983

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 June 2009

J. E. King
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Nicholas Kaldor (1908-86) and Joan Robinson (1903-83) were almost exact contemporaries and enjoyed very similar careers. Both began as innovative but fundamentally orthodox microeconomists, soon turning (very early, in the case of Robinson) to the defense and development of Keynesian macroeconomics. They were both lifelong socialists and, during the Second World War, energetic propagandists for the fledgling British welfare state. In the 1950s each published a series of penetrating critiques of neoclassical distribution and growth theory, subsequently extending the attack to mainstream analyses of value, international trade, development, and the very foundations of equilibrium methodology. By 1975 Kaldor and Robinson were generally recognized as the founding parents of Post Keynesian economics in Britain, or what its U.S. progenitor Sidney Weintraub described as the “Kaldor-Kalecki-Robinson revolution in distribution theory” (Eichner and Kregel, 1975; Weintraub, 1972, p. 45). For some years they were close personal friends. They spent decades–indeed, Robinson spent her entire working life–in Cambridge, where they were belatedly appointed to chairs in 1966.

Type
Article
Information
Journal of the History of Economic Thought , Volume 20 , Issue 4 , December 1998 , pp. 411 - 432
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1998

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Eichner, A. S. and Kregel, J. A.. 1975. “An Essay on Post-Keynesian Theory: a New Paradigm in Economics,” Journal of Economic Literature, 13, no. 4, 12, 1293–1314.Google Scholar
Friedman, M. 1974. “Schools at Cambridge,” University of Chicago Magazine, 11–16.Google Scholar
Hague, D. C. 1961. “Summary Record of the Debate,” in Lutz, F., ed., The Theory of Capital, Macmillan, London, 289–403.Google Scholar
Hahn, F. H. 1989. “Kaldor on Growth,” Cambridge Journal of Economics, 13, no. 1, 03, 47–57.Google Scholar
Harcourt, G. C. 1963. “A Critique of Mr. Kaldor's Model of Income Distribution and Economic Growth,” Australian Economic Papers, 2, 06, 20–36.Google Scholar
Harcourt, G. C. 1972. Some Cambridge Controversies in the Theory of Capital, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Howson, S. 1993. British Monetary Policy, 1945–51, Clarendon Press, Oxford.Google Scholar
Johnson, H. G. 1977. ‘Cambridge as an academic environment in the early 1930s: a reconstruction from the late 1940s’, in Patinkin, D. and Leith, J. C. (eds), Keynes, Cambridge and the “General Theory”, Macmillan, London, 98–114.Google Scholar
Joseph, M. F. W. and N., Kaldor. 1942. Economic Reconstruction After the War, English Universities Press for the Association for Education in Citizenship, London.Google Scholar
Kahn, R. F. 1959. “Exercises in the Analysis of Growth,” Oxford Economic Papers, 11, no. 2, 06, 143–56.Google Scholar
Kaldor, N. 1934. “Mrs. Robinson's ‘Economics of Imperfect Competition,’” Economica, n.s., 1, no. 3, 08, 335–41.Google Scholar
Kaldor, N. 1936. “Wage Subsidies as a Remedy for Unemployment,” Journal of Political Economy, 44, no. 6, 12, 721–42.Google Scholar
Kaldor, N. 1937. “Annual Survey of Economic Theory: the Controversy on the Theory of Capital,” Econometrica, 5, no. 1, 07, 201–33.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kaldor, N. 1939. “Speculation and Economic Stability,” Review of Economic Studies, 7, 10, 1–27.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kaldor, N. 1940. “A Model of the Trade Cycle,” Economic Journal, 50, no. 197, 03, 78–92.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kaldor, N. 1950. “Distribution, Theory of,” in Chambers' Encyclopedia, 4, Chambers, London, 6th ed., 553–56.Google Scholar
Kaldor, N. 1954. “The Relation of Economic Growth and Cyclical Fluctuations,” Economic Journal, 64, no. 253, 03, 53–71.Google Scholar
Kaldor, N. 1955. An Expenditure Tax, Allen and Unwin, London.Google Scholar
Kaldor, N. 1956. “Alternative Theories of Distribution,” Review of Economic Studies, 23, no. 2, 83–100.Google Scholar
Kaldor, N. 1957a. “Capitalist Evolution in the Light of Keynesian Economics,” Sankhya, 18, nos 1–2, 05, 173–82.Google Scholar
Kaldor, N. 1957b. “A Model of Economic Growth,” Economic Journal, 67, no. 268, 12, 591–624.Google Scholar
Kaldor, N. 1959. “Economic Growth and the Problem of Inflation. Parts I and II,” Economica, n.s. 26, no. 103, 08, 212–26 and 26, no. 104, 11, 287–98.Google Scholar
Kaldor, N. 1960. “Keynes's Theory of the Own-rates of Interest,” in Kaldor, N., ed., Essays on Economic Stability and Growth, Duckworth, London, 59–74.Google Scholar
Kaldor, N. 1961a. “Capital Accumulation and Economic Growth,” in Lutz, F., ed., The Theory of Capital, Macmillan, London, 177–222.Google Scholar
Kaldor, N. 1961b. “Increasing Returns and Technical Progress: a Comment on Professor Hicks' Article,” Oxford Economic Papers, 13, no. 1, 02, 1–4.Google Scholar
Kaldor, N. 1975. “What is Wrong With Economic Theory,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, 89, no. 3, 08, 347–57.Google Scholar
Kaldor, N. 1983. “Keynesian Economics after Fifty Years,” in Worswick, G. N. D. and Trevithick, J., eds., Keynes and the Modern World, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1–28.Google Scholar
Kaldor, N. 1984. Obituary of Joan Violet Robinson, King's College Annual Report, 32–34.Google Scholar
Kaldor, N. 1985. “Piero Sraffa 1898–1983,” Proceedings of the British Academy, 71, 615–40.Google Scholar
Kaldor, N. 1986a. “Recollections of an Economist,” Banca Nazionale del Lavoro Quarterly Review, 39, no. 156, 03, 3–26.Google Scholar
Kaldor, N. 1986b. Ricordi di un Economista, ed. Marcuzzo, M. C., Garzanti, Milan.Google Scholar
Kaldor, N. and Mirrlees, J.. 1962. “A New Model of Economic Growth,” Review of Economic Studies, 29, 06, 174–92.Google Scholar
Kaldor, N., Robinson, J., Evans, A. A., Schumacher, E. F., and Yates, P. L.. 1943. Planning for Abundance, National Peace Council, London.Google Scholar
Keynes, J. M. 1973. The Collected Writings of John Maynard Keynes. Volume XIII. The General Theory and After: Part I Preparation, Macmillan and Cambridge University Press for the Royal Economic Society, London.Google Scholar
King, J. E. 1994. “A Conversation With Paul Davidson,” Review of Political Economy, 6, no.3, 357–79.Google Scholar
King, J. E., ed. 1996. “The First Post Keynesian: Joan Robinson's Essays in the Theory of Employment (1937),” in Arestis, P. and Sawyer, M. C., eds., Employment, Economic Growth and the Tyranny of the Market: Essays in Honour of Paul Davidson, Elgar, Aldershot, 164–84.Google Scholar
Pasinetti, L. L. 1998. “Piero Sraffa: an Italian Economist at Cambridge,” in Pasinetti, L. L., ed., Italian Economic Papers Volume III, Il Mulino and Oxford University Press, Oxford, 365–83.Google Scholar
Robinson, J. 1933. The Economics of Imperfect Competition, Macmillan, London.Google Scholar
Robinson, J. 1937. Essays in the Theory of Employment, Macmillan, London.Google Scholar
Robinson, J. 1943. The Problem of Full Employment, Workers Educational Association, London.Google Scholar
Robinson, J. 1952. The Rate of Interest and Other Essays, Macmillan, London; 2nd ed., entitled The Generalisation of the General Theory and Other Essays, 1979.Google Scholar
Robinson, J. 1954. “The Production Function and the Theory of Capital,” Review of Economic Studies, 21, no. 2, 81–106.Google Scholar
Robinson, J. 1956. The Accumulation of Capital, Macmillan, London.Google Scholar
Robinson, J. 1957a. “Economic Growth and Capital Accumulation: a Comment,” Economic Record, 33, 04, 103–08.Google Scholar
Robinson, J. 1957b [1960]. “The Theory of Distribution,” in Robinson, , Collected Economic Papers Volume 2, Oxford, Blackwell, 145–58.Google Scholar
Robinson, J. 1959. “Accumulation and the Production Function,” Economic Journal, 69, no. 275, 09, 433–42.Google Scholar
Robinson, J. 1960. Exercises in Economic Analysis, Macmillan, London.Google Scholar
Robinson, J. 1961a. “Equilibrium Growth Models,” American Economic Review, 51, no. 2, 06, 360–9.Google Scholar
Robinson, J. 1961b. “Own Rates of Interest,” Economic Journal, 71, no. 283, 09, 596–600.Google Scholar
Robinson, J. 1962a. Essays in the Theory of Economic Growth, Macmillan, London.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Robinson, J. 1962b. “Comment,” Review of Economic Studies, 29, 06, 258–66.Google Scholar
Robinson, J. 1962c. Economic Philosophy, Watts, London.Google Scholar
Robinson, J. 1964a. “Kalecki and Keynes,” in Problems of Economic Dynamics and Planning: Essays in Honour of Michal Kalecki, PWN-Polish Scientific Publishers, Warsaw, 335–41.Google Scholar
Robinson, J. 1964b. “Pre-Keynesian Theory After Keynes,” Australian Economic Papers, 3, 06–12, 25–35.Google Scholar
Robinson, J. 1967. “Growth and the Theory of Distribution,” Annals of Public and Cooperative Economy, 38, no. 1, 01–03, 3–7.Google Scholar
Robinson, J. 1969. “Preface” to Robinson, J., ed., The Economics of Imperfect Competition, Macmillan, London, 2d ed., pp. v–xii.Google Scholar
Robinson, J. 1975. “The Unimportance of Reswitching,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, 89, no.1, 02, 32–9.Google Scholar
Robinson, J. 1977. “What are the Questions?,” Journal of Economic Literature, 15, no. 4, 12, 1318–39.Google Scholar
Robinson, J. 1978. “Reminiscences,” in Robinson, J., ed., Contributions to Modern Economics, Blackwell, Oxford, ix–xxii.Google Scholar
Samuelson, P. A. 1964. “A Brief Survey of Post-Keynesian Developments,” in Lekachman, R., ed., Keynes's General Theory: Reports of Three Decades, St. Martin's Press, New York, 315–31.Google Scholar
Targetti, F. 1992. Nicholas Kaldor: the Economics and Politics of Capitalism as a Dynamic System, Clarendon Press, Oxford.Google Scholar
Thirlwall, A. P. 1987. Nicholas Kaldor, Harvester, Brighton.Google Scholar
Turner, M. S. 1993. Nicholas Kaldor and the Real World, M. E. Sharpe, Armonk, New York.Google Scholar
Weintraub, S. 1972. “Marginal Productivity and Macrodistribution Theory,” Western Economic Journal, 10, no. 1, 03, 45–56.Google Scholar