Lionel Robbins Lionel Charles Robbins, Baron Robbins, (22 November 1898 – 15 May 1984) was a British economist, and prominent member of the economics department at the London School of Economics (LSE). He is known for his leadership at LSE, his proposed de ...

' ''Essay'' (1932, 1935, 2nd ed., 158 pp.) sought to define more precisely economics as a science and to derive substantive implications. Analysis is relative to "accepted solutions of particular problems" based on best modern practice as referenced, especially including the works of Philip Wicksteed,

Ludwig von Mises Ludwig Heinrich Edler von Mises (; 29 September 1881 – 10 October 1973) was an Austrian School economist, historian, logician, and sociologist. Mises wrote and lectured extensively on the societal contributions of classical liberalism. He is ...

, and other Continental European economists. Robbins disclaims originality but expresses hope to have given expository force on a very few points to some principles "not always clearly stated" (1935, pp. xiv-xvi)Lionel Robbins (1932, 1935, 2nd ed.). ''An Essay on the Nature and Significance of Economic Science'', London: Macmillan. Links fo
1932 HTML
an
1935 facsimile

Major propositions

Robbins develops and defends several

proposition In logic and linguistics, a proposition is the meaning of a declarative sentence. In philosophy, " meaning" is understood to be a non-linguistic entity which is shared by all sentences with the same meaning. Equivalently, a proposition is the no ...

s about the relation of

scarcity In economics, scarcity "refers to the basic fact of life that there exists only a finite amount of human and nonhuman resources which the best technical knowledge is capable of using to produce only limited maximum amounts of each economic good. ...

to economics and of economic theory to science, including the following. * "Economics is the science which studies human behaviour as a relationship between ends and scarce means which have alternative uses." (1935, p. 15) * "Economics is not about certain ''kinds'' of behaviour," but "a certain ''aspect'' of behaviour, the form imposed by the influence of scarcity." (pp. 16–17) * "Economics is entirely neutral between ends; ... in so far as ''any'' end is dependent on scarce means, it is germane to the preoccupations of the economist." (p. 24) * " alth is not wealth because of its substantial properties. It is wealth because it is scarce." (p. 47) * "The Law of Diminishing Marginal Utility ..., whether true or false, can never be verified by observation or introspection." ... or does it"justify the inference that transferences from rich to poor would increase total satisfaction... Interesting as a development of an ethical postulate,

uch an effect Uch ( pa, ; ur, ), frequently referred to as Uch Sharīf ( pa, ; ur, ; ''"Noble Uch"''), is a historic city in the southern part of Pakistan's Punjab province. Uch may have been founded as Alexandria on the Indus, a town founded by Alexand ...

does not at all follow from the positive assumptions of pure theory." (pp. 137, 141) * Economics as science is about "ascertainable facts" of the

positive Positive is a property of positivity and may refer to: Mathematics and science * Positive formula, a logical formula not containing negation * Positive number, a number that is greater than 0 * Plus sign, the sign "+" used to indicate a posi ...

as distinct from

normative Normative generally means relating to an evaluative standard. Normativity is the phenomenon in human societies of designating some actions or outcomes as good, desirable, or permissible, and others as bad, undesirable, or impermissible. A norm in ...

(ethical) judgments on

economic policy The economy of governments covers the systems for setting levels of taxation, government budgets, the money supply and interest rates as well as the labour market, national ownership, and many other areas of government interventions into the ec ...

. (p. 148). The definition of economics above has been described as "central to the arguments presented" that followed in the ''Essay'' and as redefining economics in

marginalist Marginalism is a theory of economics that attempts to explain the discrepancy in the value of goods and services by reference to their secondary, or marginal, utility. It states that the reason why the price of diamonds is higher than that of wa ...

terms and thereby "destroy ngthe view classical economists had of their science."Peter Groenwegen (1987). ( 008. "'political economy' and 'economics'", '' The New Palgrave: A Dictionary of Economics'', v. 3, pp. 905-06, including a citation of

Hla Myint Hla Myint ( my, လှမြင့် ; 1920 – 9 March 2017) was a Burmese economist noted as one of the pioneers of development economics as well as for his contributions to welfare economics. He stressed, long before it became popular, the i ...

(1948), ''Theories of Welfare Economics'', Longmans Green. Robbins argued that, at a certain stage in the development of the subject, an insufficiently restrictive and unifying definition multiplies activities of economists away from filling in explanatory gaps of the theory and solving problems posed by the subject (pp. 3–4). The ''Essay'' has been described as different from earlier writings on

economic methodology Economic methodology is the study of methods, especially the scientific method, in relation to economics, including principles underlying economic reasoning. In contemporary English, 'methodology' may reference theoretical or systematic aspe ...

in generating a range of tightly argued, radical implications from a simple definition, for example in admitting an ''aspect'' of behaviour (rather than a list of behaviours) but not limiting the subject-matter of economics, provided that the influence of scarcity impinges on these (pp. 16–17). The broad behavioural definition is credited for its consistency with the expanding boundaries of economics decades later. In this Robbins both narrows the definition of economics, thereby demonstrating the usefulness of deduction, and opens up the subject-matter of economics.• Roger E. Backhouse and Steven G. Medema (2009). "Defining Economics: The Long Road to Acceptance of the Robbins Definition," ''Economica'', 76(302), Conclusions. [805–820

• George J. Stigler, 1984. "Economics—The Imperial Science?" ''Scandinavian Journal of Economics'', 86(3), pp.
301
313.

Influence

Robbins's ''Essay'' is one of the most-cited works on the

methodology In its most common sense, methodology is the study of research methods. However, the term can also refer to the methods themselves or to the philosophical discussion of associated background assumptions. A method is a structured procedure for br ...

and

philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. ...

of economics for the period 1932–1960. Arguments therein have been widely accepted on the demarcation of economics as science from discussion of recommendations on

.B. A. Corry (1987 008. "Robbins, Lionel Charles," ''The New Palgrave: A Dictionary of Economics'', v. 4, p. 207 p. 206-08 In that period, economists started referring to Robbins'

definition of economics Various definitions of economics have been proposed, including, "what economists do". The earlier term for ' economics' was political 'economy'. It is adapted from the French Mercantilist usage of ''économie politique'', which extended ''econo ...

therein as generally accepted, along with continuing controversy that accompanied its blending into economics texts. With the application of the economic methods to social and other "non-economic" problems, acceptance of Robbins' expansive subject-matter definition in economics texts increased its prominence.

Notes

References

* Daniel M. Hausman (2003).
Philosophy of Economics
" ''Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' * Susan Howson (2004). "The Origins of Lionel Robbins's Essay on the Nature and Significance of Economic Science," ''History of Political Economy'', 36(3), pp. 413–443.
excerpt.
* Terence W. Hutchison (1938). '' The Significance and Basic Postulates of Economic Theory''. * Richard G. Lipsey (2009). "Some Legacies of Robbins’ ''An Essay on the Nature and Significance of Economic Science''," ''Economica'', 76(302), pp
845-56
(press + button). * Roger E. Backhouse and Steven Medema, 2008. "economics, definition of," ''

The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics ''The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics'' (2018), 3rd ed., is a twenty-volume reference work on economics published by Palgrave Macmillan. It contains around 3,000 entries, including many classic essays from the original Inglis Palgrave Dictio ...

'', 2nd Edition
Abstract.
* Roger E. Backhouse and Steven Medema, (2009), Defining Economics: The Long Road to Acceptance of the Robbins Definition. Economica, 76: 805–820. doi:10.1111/j.1468-0335.2009.00789.x Accessed a

on December 29, 2017. {{DEFAULTSORT:Essay on the Nature and Significance of Economic Science 1932 non-fiction books Works about philosophy of economics

Major propositions

Influence

See also

Notes

References