Joan Robinson — Passionate Seeker After Truth

Joan was a great lady. This impression, once received, never dimmed with closer acquaintance. As a student in Oxford, when I first saw her she appeared wearing a bright green pajama suit; she was young, vigorous and beautiful; she addressed us in abstruse terms about the long-period theory of employment. I understood little but sat spellbound, and, in a sense, have remained so ever since. She had already published a great, influential book — a work which subsequently should have ensured her a Nobel prize, had she not had the two stigmas of being both a woman and a radical. The contrast between her and Edward Chamberlin is striking and highly significant. He spent the remainder of his life in self-hagiography, collecting all reviews, references and comments on his one work. Once she had published her first book, Joan more or less never mentioned it again: she charged into fresh fields, attempting to complete the Keynesian rectification of the shortcomings of Marshallian partial equilibrium.