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What Was “It” that Robbins Was Defining?

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Author Info
David COlander ()

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Abstract

This paper argues that Robbins’ famous definition of economics was of “economic science” which he saw as only a narrow branch of the field of economics. The field of economics included both economic science—which his definition dealt with, and political economy--which his essay did not deal with. His prescriptive message was that policy belonged in the “political economy” branch of economics. He believed that while the science of economics should avoid value judgments as much as possible, the political economy (applied policy) branch of economics should, and must, include value judgments. That prescriptive message has been lost.

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File URL: http://www.middlebury.edu/services/econ/repec/mdl/ancoec/0914.pdf
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Paper provided by Middlebury College, Department of Economics in its series Middlebury College Working Paper Series with number 0914.

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Length: 16 pages
Date of creation: 2009
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:mdl:mdlpap:0914

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Related research
Keywords: : definition of economics; political economy; science of economics; Robbins; value judgments;

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This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports: References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
  1. David Colander, 2005. "What Economists Teach and What Economists Do," Journal of Economic Education, Helen Dwight Reid Foundation, vol. 36(3), pages 249-260. [Downloadable!]
  2. Sen, Amartya, 1970. "The Impossibility of a Paretian Liberal," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 78(1), pages 152-57, Jan.-Feb.. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. Colander, David & Klamer, Arjo, 1987. "The Making of an Economist," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 1(2), pages 95-111, Fall. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  4. Keynes, John Neville, 1890. "The Scope and Method of Political Economy," History of Economic Thought Books, McMaster University Archive for the History of Economic Thought, edition 4, number keynes1890. [Downloadable!]
  5. Daniel T. Slesnick, 1998. "Empirical Approaches to the Measurement of Welfare," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 36(4), pages 2108-2165, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  6. Robbins, Lionel [Lord], 1981. "Economics and Political Economy," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 71(2), pages 1-10, May.
  7. Colander, David, 1993. "The Lost Art of Economics: Response," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 7(3), pages 213-15, Summer.
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Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. David Colander, 2009. "“What is so Austrian about Austrian Economics?”," Middlebury College Working Paper Series 0910, Middlebury College, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
  2. Dave Colander, 2008. "The Making of a Global European Economist," Middlebury College Working Paper Series 0809, Middlebury College, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  3. Colander, David C., 2009. "Economists, incentives, judgment, and the European CVAR approach to macroeconometrics," Economics - The Open-Access, Open-Assessment E-Journal, Kiel Institute for the World Economy, vol. 3(9), pages 1-21. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  4. David Colander & Hugo Nopo Key Words: Latin American economics, global economics, political economy, graduate training, Latin America, applied economics, 2007. "The Making of a Latin American Global Economist," Middlebury College Working Paper Series 0705, Middlebury College, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
  5. David Colander, 2009. "How Did Macro Theory Get So Far off Track, and what Can Heterodox Macroeconomists Do to Get it Back On Track?," Middlebury College Working Paper Series 0911, Middlebury College, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
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