Sir Edward Austin Gossage Robinson, (20 November 1897 – 1 June 1993,

Cambridge, England Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge beca ...

) was a

University of Cambridge , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

economist An economist is a professional and practitioner in the social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy. Within this field there are ...

. He was an undergraduate at

Christ's College, Cambridge Christ's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college includes the Master, the Fellows of the College, and about 450 undergraduate and 170 graduate students. The college was founded by William Byngham in 1437 as ...

, and a

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Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge Sidney Sussex College (referred to informally as "Sidney") is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in England. The College was founded in 1596 under the terms of the will of Frances Sidney, Countess of Sussex (1531–1589), wif ...

. A close associate of

John Maynard Keynes John Maynard Keynes, 1st Baron Keynes, ( ; 5 June 1883 – 21 April 1946), was an English economist whose ideas fundamentally changed the theory and practice of macroeconomics and the economic policies of governments. Originally trained in ...

, Robinson served as assistant editor during Keynes's time as editor of The Economic Journal; following Keynes's retirement in 1944, Robinson took over the joint editorship with Roy Harrod. He was at the centre of economic policy-making during and after the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, holding posts in the Cabinet Office, the Ministry of Production and the

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. Robinson spent the postwar years working as a professor, editor, and economic adviser. In the course of his life, Robinson also served as a

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pilot during the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fig ...

, and spent two years in the 1920s tutoring a

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. Disillusioned after his service in the war, Robinson found Keynes's lectures on his '' The Economic Consequences of the Peace'' to be "a revelation," influencing Robinson's entry into the study of economics. He was president of the International Economic Association from 1959 to 1962. The Faculty of Economics at the University of Cambridge is located in the Austin Robinson Building, a tribute to Robinson's contributions to the subject. Robinson was the husband of economist

Joan Robinson Joan Violet Robinson (''née'' Maurice; 31 October 1903 – 5 August 1983) was a British economist well known for her wide-ranging contributions to economic theory. She was a central figure in what became known as post-Keynesian economics. ...

. They had two daughters. Austin's brother was the Rt Revd Christopher Robinson, an Anglican bishop (firstly Bishop of Lucknow and later Bishop of Bombay).

Major works

* ''The Structure of Competitive Industry'' (1931) * ''Monopoly'' (1934)

References

External links

The Papers of Sir Austin Robinson
held at Churchill Archives Centre {{DEFAULTSORT:Robinson, Austin Historians of economic thought Alumni of Christ's College, Cambridge Companions of the Order of St Michael and St George Fellows of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge Fellows of the British Academy Knights Bachelor Officers of the Order of the British Empire 1897 births 1993 deaths 20th-century British economists