IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/cdp/texdis/td535.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The economist quae political economist: Lionel Robbins and the economic adivisory council

Author

Listed:
  • Thiago Dumont Oliveira

    (N/A)

  • Carlos Eduardo Suprinyak

    (Cedeplar-UFMG)

Abstract

This paper assesses Robbins's participation in the Economic Advisory Council in 1930, drawing mostly on The Lionel Robbins Papers held atthe LSE. The divergences between him and Keynes are highlighted and an attempt is made to shed some light on Robbins' overarching interest on the interplay of economics as a science and political economy as a broader field that includes normative considerations. This renders invalid criticisms related to the absence of ethical considerations in Robbins' approach to economics. Specifically, some elements that would resurface in Robbins' later works are identified, and it is argued that the Essay on the Nature and Significance of Economic Science should be situated within his larger purpose of illuminating the extent to which the science of economics could serve as an important tool – necessary, though not sufficient –to orient the formulation of public policies.

Suggested Citation

  • Thiago Dumont Oliveira & Carlos Eduardo Suprinyak, 2016. "The economist quae political economist: Lionel Robbins and the economic adivisory council," Textos para Discussão Cedeplar-UFMG 535, Cedeplar, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais.
    • Handle: RePEc:cdp:texdis:td535
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.cedeplar.ufmg.br/pesquisas/td/TD%20535.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Wright, Richard, 1989. "Robbins as a Political Economist: A Response," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 99(396), pages 471-478, June.
    2. David Colander, 2007. "What Was “It” that Robbins Was Defining?," Middlebury College Working Paper Series 0706, Middlebury College, Department of Economics.
    3. Robert Sugden, 2009. "Can Economics be Founded on ‘Indisputable Facts of Experience’? Lionel Robbins and the Pioneers of Neoclassical Economics," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 76(s1), pages 857-872, October.
    4. A. B. Atkinson, 2009. "Economics as a Moral Science," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 76(s1), pages 791-804, October.
    5. Susan Howson, 2004. "The Origins of Lionel Robbins's Essay on the Nature and Significance of Economic Science," History of Political Economy, Duke University Press, vol. 36(3), pages 413-443, Fall.
    6. Lord Robbins, 1971. "Autobiography of an Economist," Palgrave Macmillan Books, Palgrave Macmillan, number 978-1-349-01164-3.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Thiago Dumont Oliveira & Carlos Eduardo Suprinyak, 2018. "Of time, uncertainty, and policy-making : Lionel Robbins’ lost philosophy of political economy," Textos para Discussão Cedeplar-UFMG 580, Cedeplar, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais.
    2. Carlos Eduardo Suprinyak & Thiago Dumont Oliveira, 2018. "Economists, social scientists, and the reconstruction of the world order in interwar Britain," The European Journal of the History of Economic Thought, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 25(6), pages 1282-1310, November.
    3. Thiago Dumont Oliveira & Carlos Eduardo Suprinyak, 2016. "Lionel Robbins’ first-step individualism and the prehistory of microfoundations," Textos para Discussão Cedeplar-UFMG 537, Cedeplar, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Thiago Dumont Oliveira & Carlos Eduardo Suprinyak, 2018. "Of time, uncertainty, and policy-making : Lionel Robbins’ lost philosophy of political economy," Textos para Discussão Cedeplar-UFMG 580, Cedeplar, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais.
    2. Thiago Dumont Oliveira & Carlos Eduardo Suprinyak, 2016. "Lionel Robbins’ first-step individualism and the prehistory of microfoundations," Textos para Discussão Cedeplar-UFMG 537, Cedeplar, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais.
    3. Atsushi Komine & Fabio Masini, 2011. "The Diffusion of Economic Ideas: Lionel Robbins in Italy and Japan," Chapters, in: Heinz D. Kurz & Tamotsu Nishizawa & Keith Tribe (ed.), The Dissemination of Economic Ideas, chapter 9, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    4. Anthony B. Atkinson, 2011. "The Restoration of Welfare Economics," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 101(3), pages 157-161, May.
    5. Cheng Li, 2019. "Morality and value neutrality in economics: a dualist view," The Journal of Philosophical Economics, Bucharest Academy of Economic Studies, The Journal of Philosophical Economics, vol. 12(2), pages 97-118, May.
    6. Hendrik P. van Dalen, 2019. "Values of Economists Matter in the Art and Science of Economics," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 72(3), pages 472-499, August.
    7. Avner Offer, 2012. "Self-interest, Sympathy and the Invisible Hand : From Adam Smith to Market Liberalism," Economic Thought, World Economics Association, vol. 1(2), pages 1-1, December.
    8. David Colander, 2007. "What Was “It” that Robbins Was Defining?," Middlebury College Working Paper Series 0706, Middlebury College, Department of Economics.
    9. Glenn W. Harrison, 2019. "The behavioral welfare economics of insurance," The Geneva Risk and Insurance Review, Palgrave Macmillan;International Association for the Study of Insurance Economics (The Geneva Association), vol. 44(2), pages 137-175, September.
    10. Peter G. Warr, 1978. "The Case Against Tariff Compensation," Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 22(2-3), pages 85-98, 08-12.
    11. Walter Block & William Barnett II, 2007. "On Laidler regarding the Austrian business cycle theory," The Review of Austrian Economics, Springer;Society for the Development of Austrian Economics, vol. 20(1), pages 43-61, March.
    12. Richard Cookson & Owen Cotton-Barrett & Matthew Adler & Miqdad Asaria & Toby Ord, 2016. "Years of good life based on income and health: Re-engineering cost-benefit analysis to examine policy impacts on wellbeing and distributive justice," Working Papers 132cherp, Centre for Health Economics, University of York.
    13. Juan Carlos de Pablo, 2009. "¿Qué significa ser economista en argentina?," CEMA Working Papers: Serie Documentos de Trabajo. 410, Universidad del CEMA.
    14. Bruce Caldwell, 2020. "The Road to Serfdom after 75 Years," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 58(3), pages 720-748, September.
    15. Antonio Magliulo, 2008. "The Austrian School on Happiness and Relational Goods," Working Papers - Economics wp2008_05.rdf, Universita' degli Studi di Firenze, Dipartimento di Scienze per l'Economia e l'Impresa.
    16. Arthur Silve, 2018. "Asset Complementarity, Resource Shocks, and the Political Economy of Property Rights," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 62(7), pages 1489-1516, August.
    17. Reinhard Neck, 2019. "Perpetrators and victims: Austrian economists under the Nazis," Empirica, Springer;Austrian Institute for Economic Research;Austrian Economic Association, vol. 46(3), pages 537-546, August.
    18. Richard M. Ebeling, 2020. "The Geneva connection, a liberal world order, and the Austrian economists," The Review of Austrian Economics, Springer;Society for the Development of Austrian Economics, vol. 33(4), pages 535-554, December.
    19. Brigitte Granville & Judith Shapiro, 2008. "Scratch a Would-Be Planner: Robbins, Neoclassical Economics and the End of Socialism," Working Papers 11, Queen Mary, University of London, School of Business and Management, Centre for Globalisation Research.
    20. Roger E. Backhouse & Steve G. Medema, 2009. "Defining Economics: The Long Road to Acceptance of the Robbins Definition," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 76(s1), pages 805-820, October.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    onel Robbins; Economic Advisory Council; Economics x Political Economy;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • B20 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - History of Economic Thought since 1925 - - - General
    • B31 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - History of Economic Thought: Individuals - - - Individuals

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:cdp:texdis:td535. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Gustavo Britto (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/pufmgbr.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.