Collected Economic Papers: General Index

Joan Robinson is one of the world's foremost economists. She is well known for her radical views and enjoys a growing reputation, especially among younger economists. Robinson recently retired from her position as professor of economics at Cambridge University, where according to Business Week she has "held court for more than 40 years." Long recognized as a major critic of neoclassical theory, Robinson has gained an international reputation as an elucidator of the central concepts of Keynes's General Theory, relating these to Marxist thought. Challenge remarked that Robinson's "unique contribution to economics lies not only in her recognition of the full significance of the Keynesian revolution, and its relationship to Marxist theory, but also in the manner in which, on these bases, she has forged new theoretical tools to tackle a remarkable variety of economic problems."

This is the first complete publication of her essays in the United States. The volumes cover the period from the early 1930s to the mid-1970s and are valuable both for their spirited writing and the challenging originality of Robinson's thought.

Volume I covers topics ranging from Euler's Theorem and problems of distribution to exchange equilibrium and international trade, and features a section devoted to expounding and defending Keynes's General Theory.

Volume II, in the author's words, "belongs to the field of what is sometimes called post-Keynesian economics."

Volume III contains four groups of papers, the first mainly "controversial discussions of basic economic theory," the second and third developing the post-Keynesian tradition with relation to Marxist theory; the fourth contains Robinson's observations from her trips to communities in China and North Korea and her travels in India.

Volume IV continues the debate about so-called capital theory; in the first section, developing special points in theoretical analysis and opening up questions such as the need for reconstruction of the theory of international trade; the second section contains reprints from Essays in the Theory of Employment, published in 1936. The third section reprints a little known pamphlet published by the Students Bookshop, Cambridge, in 1953.

Volume V contains five the first papers being mainly concerned with a survey of contemporary economic theory; the second consisting of two surveys of international trade and markets; the third discussing the disintegration of teaching of the Keynesian Revolution; the fourth addressing the problems of the Third World, especially India; and the fifth containing a number of papers arguing for a nondogmatic treatment of Marx.

An index to all the volumes completes the collection.