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In Search of Dennis Robertson: Through the Looking Glass and What I Found There

In: Dennis Robertson

Author

Listed:
  • Gordon Fletcher

    (University of Liverpool Management School)

Abstract

Explain title: Robertson not lost but misrepresented by the established view. My project: to examine the evidence and to discover the truth about this important Cambridge economist. Much known when I began my search: the facts. The orthodox view, ‘Received Opinion’, which claimed that there was a simple divide in Robertson’s life: happiness/growth—unhappiness/decline, with the Keynesian Revolution marking and causing the change. I question this. The role of biography in relation to economics is examined and the importance of temperament and life-view in relation to economics is stressed. The ‘Alice’ quotations and the philosophical significance of Lewis Carroll’s books: ‘nonsense’ tales, with a message about the reality of life and how to cope with it and with parallels in economic theory. The importance of the books for Robertson and his personal conflict — between the desire for escape versus the demands of duty and of intellectual advance versus emotional retreat — which is reflected in his approach to economics. As a corrective, I review Robertson’s professional achievement, which is considerable: his minor works and his main field of interest, cycles and growth.

Suggested Citation

  • Gordon Fletcher, 2006. "In Search of Dennis Robertson: Through the Looking Glass and What I Found There," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Dennis Robertson, chapter 1, pages 7-23, Palgrave Macmillan.
    • Handle: RePEc:pal:palchp:978-0-230-59590-3_2
    DOI: 10.1057/9780230595903_2
    as

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