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 became ...

) was a

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a public collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209 and granted a royal charter by Henry III in 1231, Cambridge is the world's third oldest surviving university and one of its most pr ...

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, and a

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of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge. 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 ''The Economic Journal'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal of economics published on behalf of the Royal Economic Society by Oxford University Press. The journal was established in 1891 and publishes papers from all areas of economics.The edito ...

; following Keynes's retirement in 1944, Robinson took over the joint editorship with

Roy Harrod Sir Henry Roy Forbes Harrod (13 February 1900 – 8 March 1978) was an English economist. He is best known for writing '' The Life of John Maynard Keynes'' (1951) and for the development of the Harrod–Domar model, which he and Evsey Domar dev ...

. 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 vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

, holding posts in the Cabinet Office, the

Ministry of Production The Ministry of Production was a British government department created in February 1942, initially under the title Ministry of War Production, but the following month "War" was dropped from the title. Its purpose was to fill a gap in the machinery ...

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

seaplane A seaplane is a powered fixed-wing aircraft capable of taking off and landing (alighting) on water.Gunston, "The Cambridge Aerospace Dictionary", 2009. Seaplanes are usually divided into two categories based on their technological characteri ...

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 fightin ...

, and spent two years in the 1920s tutoring a

Maharajah Mahārāja (; also spelled Maharajah, Maharaj) is a Sanskrit title for a "great ruler", "great king" or " high king". A few ruled states informally called empires, including ruler raja Sri Gupta, founder of the ancient Indian Gupta Empire, 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 The International Economic Association (IEA) is an NGO established in 1950, at the instigation of the Social Sciences Department of UNESCO. To date, the IEA still shares information and maintains consultative relations with UNESCO. In 1973 the IE ...

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. B ...

. 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 The Churchill Archives Centre (CAC) at Churchill College at the University of Cambridge is one of the largest repositories in the United Kingdom for the preservation and study of modern personal papers. It is best known for housing the papers of ...

{{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