The Economics of Joan Robinson (Routledge Studies in the History of Economics, 5)

Book Cover......Page 1
Half-Title......Page 2
Title......Page 4
Copyright......Page 5
CONTENTS......Page 6
CONTRIBUTORS......Page 10
INTRODUCTION......Page 12
REFERENCES......Page 18
Part I THE HERITAGE OF MARSHALL......Page 20
THE TRANSITION FROM THE TREATISE TO THE GENERAL THEORY......Page 21
KAHN’S AGGREGATE SUPPLY FUNCTION......Page 23
THE DISSERTATION......Page 26
JOAN ROBINSON AND RICHARD KAHN: THE ECONOMICS OF IMPERFECT COMPETITION......Page 28
THE ECONOMICS OF THE SHORT PERIOD......Page 30
JOAN ROBINSON’S SHORT PERIOD......Page 32
CONCLUSIONS......Page 34
NOTES......Page 35
REFERENCES......Page 38
2 IMPERFECT COMPETITION AND SHORT-PERIOD ECONOMICS......Page 40
REFERENCES......Page 46
3  SCHUMPETER’S REVIEW OF THE ECONOMICS OF IMPERFECT COMPETITION......Page 47
ANALYTICAL TOOLS AND ASSUMPTIONS......Page 48
DISCUSSING THE ASSUMPTIONS......Page 50
A TERM OF REFERENCE: ALFRED MARSHALL......Page 52
FROM MASTER TO DISCIPLE: CONTINUITY AND BETRAYAL......Page 53
AN EXAMPLE OF INTELLECTUAL INTEGRITY......Page 54
FROM PARTIAL EQUILIBRIA TO THE ECONOMIC SYSTEM AS A WHOLE......Page 55
NOTES......Page 58
REFERENCES......Page 61
Part II IN THE TRADITION OF KEYNES......Page 63
4  OF PRODIGAL SONS AND BASTARD PROGENY1......Page 64
THE FIRST GENERATION OF BASTARD PROGENY......Page 65
THE SECOND GENERATION—NEOCLASSICAL SYNTHETICS......Page 67
THE FOURTH GENERATION—THE NEW ORTHODOXY......Page 70
THE MODERN GENERATION—THE NEW KEYNESIANS......Page 73
THE PRODIGAL SONS......Page 75
NOTES......Page 77
REFERENCES......Page 78
THE CENTRAL IDEA......Page 79
ROBINSON’S ARGUMENT......Page 80
A FLAW IN THE ARGUMENT......Page 81
ROBINSON’S ARTICLE IN THE LIGHT OF CONTEMPORARY DISCUSSION......Page 82
ON A DIFFERENT VIEW OF THE IMPLICATIONS OF ROBINSON’S ARTICLE FOR CONTEMPORARY DISCUSSION......Page 83
NOTES......Page 85
REFERENCES......Page 87
6 JOAN ROBINSON AND THE RATE OF INTEREST......Page 88
REFERENCES......Page 93
7  JOAN ROBINSON AND THE RATE OF INTEREST THESE DAYS1......Page 95
REFERENCES......Page 101
8  BEGGAR-MY-NEIGHBOUR POLICIES......Page 103
NOTES......Page 110
REFERENCES......Page 112
Part III FOLLOWING MARX, KALECKI AND SRAFFA......Page 114
JOAN ROBINSON AND MARXIAN ORTHODOXY......Page 115
JOAN ROBINSON AND MARXIAN ORTHODOXY: CONCLUSIONS......Page 120
TAKING MARX SERIOUSLY: THE ULTIMATE ROOT OF ORTHODOXY......Page 122
REFERENCES......Page 125
10  JOAN ROBINSON ON NORMAL PRICES (AND THE NORMAL RATE OF PROFITS)1......Page 127
THE NORMAL PRICE AS THE PRICE NECESSARY TO BRING THE COMMODITY REGULARLY TO MARKET......Page 128
JOAN ROBINSON’S VIEW OF NORMAL PRICES AND THE NORMAL RATE OF PROFITS AS PERTAINING TO ECONOMIES GROWING IN STEADY-STATE CONDITIONS......Page 129
REALIZED VS. NORMAL RATE OF PROFITS......Page 130
THE NORMAL RATE OF PROFITS AND THE RATE OF ACCUMULATION OF CAPITAL: THE SHORTCOMINGS OF THE STEADY-STATE ASSUMPTION......Page 132
REFERENCES......Page 135
11  JOAN ROBINSON, PIERO SRAFFA AND THE STANDARD COMMODITY MYSTERY1......Page 137
ROBINSON’S CORN MODEL......Page 138
A DIGRESSION ABOUT ACCOUNTING......Page 140
A NOTE......Page 141
JOAN ROBINSON, PIERO SRAFFA AND THE STANDARD COMMODITY......Page 142
CONCLUSION......Page 143
POSTSCRIPT......Page 145
NOTES......Page 146
REFERENCES......Page 147
Part IV GROWTH, DEVELOPMENT AND DYNAMICS......Page 149
JOAN ROBINSON’S SCIENTIFIC CURIOSITY......Page 150
THE TOOL OF ‘IMPERFECT COMPETITION’ FOR THE ANALYSIS OF ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT......Page 151
EFFICIENCY AND MARKET BEHAVIOUR......Page 152
ASYMMETRIES IN ECONOMIC GROWTH......Page 153
ACCUMULATION AND MONOPOLY IN THE EVOLUTION OF THE ECONOMY......Page 154
ENTREPRENEURS AND ACCUMULATION......Page 156
A VARIETY OF EVOLUTIONARY PATHS......Page 157
NOTES......Page 160
REFERENCES......Page 162
13  DEGREE OF MECHANIZATION OF TECHNIQUES AND SCALE OF MECHANIZATION OF THE ECONOMY1......Page 164
SPECIFICATION OF THE TECHNIQUES......Page 166
EQUILIBRIUM WITH ZERO GROWTH......Page 168
EQUILIBRIUM WITH POSITIVE GROWTH......Page 170
EQUILIBRIUM AT DIFFERENT RATES OF GROWTH......Page 175
CONCLUSIONS......Page 179
APPENDIX CONDITIONS FOR CAPITAL INTENSIVENESS OF THE ECONOMY TO REVERSE THAT OF TECHNIQUES......Page 181
NOTES......Page 185
REFERENCES......Page 190
ACCUMULATION OF CAPITAL AND ECONOMIC DYNAMICS: A THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK......Page 191
VICISSITUDES OF ECONOMIC PROGRESS AND UNSTEADY GROWTH......Page 197
ON THE EVOLVING STRUCTURE OF A CAPITALIST ECONOMY: NOTES ON METHODS OF DYNAMIC ECONOMICS......Page 198
NOTES......Page 202
REFERENCES......Page 204
15  HARROD’S DYNAMIC ECONOMICS AND JOAN ROBINSON’S GENERALIZATION OF THE GENERAL THEORY1......Page 206
THE REVIEW OF TOWARDS A DYNAMIC ECONOMICS......Page 207
ROBINSON’S SOLUTION OF HARROD’S PROBLEM......Page 209
A COMMON KEYNESIAN VISION OF ECONOMIC DYNAMICS......Page 210
NOTES......Page 211
REFERENCES......Page 212
16 ‘THE GOLDEN AGE’ AND JOAN ROBINSON’S CRITIQUE......Page 214
REFERENCES......Page 218
17  ECONOMIC GROWTH AND THE THEORY OF CAPITAL......Page 220
REFERENCES......Page 226
Part V CAPITAL THEORY AND TECHNICAL PROGRESS......Page 227
A ‘CURIOSUM’......Page 228
THE ‘BADLY BEHAVED PRODUCTION FUNCTION’......Page 230
‘THE UNIMPORTANCE OF RESWITCHING’......Page 232
POSTSCRIPT......Page 233
APPENDIX......Page 235
REFERENCES......Page 236
THE POINT RAISED BY PASINETTI......Page 238
A TENTATIVE, THOUGH LIKELY EXPLORATION......Page 239
REFERENCES......Page 242
SRAFFA: CRITICISM......Page 244
ROBINSON: CONSTRUCTION AND CRITICISM......Page 246
SAMUELSON: DEFENCE, BUT AGAINST WHAT?......Page 248
IRONIES INSTEAD OF LESSONS FROM HISTORY......Page 250
NOTES......Page 251
REFERENCES......Page 252
21  ‘PRODUCTIVITY CURVES’ IN THE ACCUMULATION OF CAPITAL1......Page 254
A PRODUCTIVITY CURVE......Page 255
A FAMILY OF PRODUCTIVITY CURVES......Page 260
A PSEUDO-PRODUCTION FUNCTION......Page 263
APPENDIX......Page 266
NOTES......Page 267
REFERENCES......Page 269
CHOICE VS. CHANGE OF TECHNIQUE......Page 271
THE BEHAVIOUR OF AN ENTREPRENEUR VS. THE ECONOMY AS A FAIT ACCOMPLI......Page 272
TECHNICAL PROGRESS: TWO CLASSIFICATIONS......Page 273
THE DEGREE OF MECHANIZATION AND THE DEEPENING OF CAPITAL......Page 275
COST VS. AMOUNT OF INVESTMENT: THEIR DIFFERENT IMPLICATIONS......Page 276
THE REAL-CAPITAL RATIO: A CRITIQUE......Page 279
THE TWO POINTS OF VIEW: A SUMMING UP......Page 280
The transition to a higher degree of mechanization from the point of view of the economy as a fait accompli......Page 281
CONCLUDING REMARKS......Page 282
NOTES......Page 283
REFERENCES......Page 284
JOAN ROBINSON’S GROWTH MODEL......Page 286
TECHNICAL PROGRESS IN JOAN ROBINSON’S ANALYSIS: INTRODUCTORY REFLECTIONS......Page 289
THE EFFECTS OF TYPE A INNOVATIONS......Page 291
THE IMPACT OF TYPE B AND C INNOVATIONS......Page 293
PRELIMINARY FINDINGS......Page 296
NEUTRAL INNOVATIONS: A CRITICAL ASSESSMENT OF ONE OF ROBINSON’S STATEMENTS......Page 297
THE ‘SILVER AGE’......Page 299
NOTES......Page 301
REFERENCES......Page 303
Part VI METHOD......Page 306
24  JOAN ROBINSON’S CHANGING VIEWS ON METHOD......Page 307
A BRIEF SKETCH OF CHANGING VIEWS......Page 309
IDEOLOGY AND SCIENCE......Page 311
THE REAL METHODOLOGICAL DIFFICULTIES......Page 313
THE PROBLEM OF ‘INTERNAL’ CRITICISMS......Page 315
SOME CONCLUDING REMARKS......Page 317
NOTES......Page 319
REFERENCES......Page 320
25  ARE ECONOMIC THEORIES HISTORICALLY SPECIFIC?......Page 323
Stages: The character of technology......Page 324
The historical character of classical models......Page 326
Joan Robinson’s position......Page 329
 DIFFERENT FORMS OF RATIONALITY......Page 332
ECONOMIC STYLES......Page 333
ECONOMIC SYSTEMS......Page 336
REFERENCES......Page 339
26  SOME REFLECTIONS ON JOAN ROBINSON’S CHANGES OF MIND AND THEIR RELATIONSHIP TO POST-KEYNESIANISM AND THE ECONOMICS PROFESSION1......Page 342
NOTES......Page 352
REFERENCES......Page 353
NOTATION......Page 356
Journals......Page 357
BIBLIOGRAPHY......Page 360
NOTES......Page 362
INDEX......Page 366