G. Harcourt - The End of an Era

7/28/2019 G. Harcourt - The End of an Era

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/g-harcourt-the-end-of-an-era 1/5

The End of an Era: Joan Robinson (1903-83) and Piero Sraffa (1898-1983)

Author(s): G. C. HarcourtSource: Journal of Post Keynesian Economics, Vol. 6, No. 3 (Spring, 1984), pp. 466-469Published by: M.E. Sharpe, Inc.

Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4537833 .

Accessed: 07/04/2013 17:57

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of

content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

.

M.E. Sharpe, Inc. is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Journal of Post

Keynesian Economics.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 190.232.168.100 on Sun, 7 Apr 2013 17:57:39 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=mes

http://www.jstor.org/stable/4537833?origin=JSTOR-pdf

http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp





http://www.jstor.org/stable/4537833?origin=JSTOR-pdf

http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=mes



G. C. HARCOURT

The end of an era: JoanRobinson

(1903-83) and Piero Sraffa(1898-

1983)

Thedeathof JoanRobinsononAugust5 andof Piero Sraffaon Septem-ber 3, 1983, marks the end of an era in Cambridgeeconomics and,

indeed,in economics itself. Bothwereassociatedwithmajorupheavalsin economictheoryin the twentiethcentury;both mademajorcontribu-

tions, notonlythrough heirdevastating riticismof orthodoxybutalso

by providing solid foundations for alternative, more fruitful ap-

proaches n economictheory.Theircontributions rerelated o those of

four othergreateconomists-Ricardo, Marx, Marshall,and Keynes.Inaddition,Kalecki was an important nfluence on Joan Robinsonand

MauriceDobbwas an indispensablecollaboratorof Piero Sraffa's. Of

their other contemporaries,Richard Kahn as critic and guide was

essential to Joan Robinsonand Kahn himself mentions Sraffa as his

oldest friend.

JoanRobinson'sfirstmajorwork, TheEconomicsofImperfectCom-

petition (1933), was inspiredby Sraffa's"pregnant uggestion" in his

1926 EconomicJournalpaper,"The Lawsof ReturnsunderCompeti-tive Conditions." His introductionso thegreatSraffa-Dobb dition of

Ricardo's works and correspondenceprovided a vital clue for thestructureof her magnumopus, TheAccumulationof Capital (1956).

Thoughthey eventuallywere to differ over what was the most damag-

ing central criticism of the marginalproductivitytheoryof value and

distribution-Sraffa found it in the reswitchingand capitalreversing

The author s UniversityLecturer n Economics andPolitics, Universityof Cam-

bridge, and Fellow of Jesus College, Cambridge.

466 Journal of Post KeynesianEconomics/Spring1984, Vol. VI, No. 3







THE END OF AN ERA: ROBINSON AND SRAFFA 467

results, Joan Robinson in her general methodologicalcritique-be-

tween them they played outstandingroles in undermining he logicalfoundationsof theoriginalneoclassicals'answers o classicalquestions

concerningthe origin of profits in capitalisteconomies. (The latter's

descendantsrespondedby changingthe questions.) Again, their atti-

tudes to Marx differed.Piero Sraffasawhis task,at least inpart,as that

of tidying up some unfinished or incoherentparts of Marx's schema

while acceptingit overall. This taskis an aspectof the positive contri-

butionsof Productionof Commodities 1960), his "magnificent"reha-

bilitation of Classical economics, as the late Ronald Meek called it.JoanRobinsonwasa sympathetic riticof Marx,absorbing hepositive

aspectsof his methods andinsightswhile refusingnecessarilyto reach

his results by the paths which Marx himself had followed. She was

extremely mpatientwiththose who considered hat thiswas necessary,a set which did not include Piero Sraffa.

Again, thoughJoan Robinsonendedup preferringKalecki'spathto

the principalresults of the General Theory,not least because it camefrom Marx's schemes of reproduction, he was very muchin sympathywith what she deemed to be the revolutionarynatureof the methodand

theoryinthe GeneralTheorytself. Sraffawas moreskeptical.Possiblyhe was a little disturbedby the use whichKeynesmade of his (Sraffa's)constructof own rates of interestin Chapter17 of the GeneralTheory.Sraffaemployedthe construct n orderinternallyto criticize the argu-mentof Hayek's Prices and Productionratherthan to

providea

posi-tive theory of the workings of competitive capitalism. Overall, of

course, he and Keynes were extremelyclose; each had respect and

affection for the otherandthey were also linkedthroughtheir mutual

love of the chase in collecting and readingrare books.

PerhapsI maybe forgivenif I close on a morepersonalnote?I first

met them both in 1955 when I came as a research student to King's.Piero Sraffa looked after the research studentsand Joan Robinson

attendedourweeklyseminars, attracted,we likedto think,as muchbythe ideas in our papersas by the chocolatebiscuits which we had for

tea. In those days Piero Sraffa was a ratherwithdrawn igure (he was

still recoveringfrom the effects of a seriousfall in theearly1950s). We

regardedhim with awe but also with affection. He could ask the most

disconcertingquestionswhich, on reflection,we realizedwereprobingthe real weaknessesof our arguments.JoanRobinson,too, keptus on

our toes, treating us as equals, able to take the cut and thrust ofCambridgedebate, a flatteringbut not always accuratepresumption.







468 JOURNAL OF POST KEYNESIANECONOMICS

Shealso took a kindlyinterest n ourprogressand ourproblems.Inthe

1960s when Sraffa had delivered himself of Productionof Commod-ities he was a more mellow figure-or perhapsI was older. In any

event, because Vincent Massaro and I were writing on Productionof

Commodities,I got to know Sraffabetterandto realize that the whis-

kies with which I had fortified myself in order to preparefor discus-

sions with him were in fact redundant.And, in later years, he was

kindness tself to theyoungscholarsvisiting Cambridgewhom I tookto

meet him in his rooms in Nevile's Court in Trinitynear the Wren

library.All this is not to saythatthere were not occasionalrerunsof the

kettlesuddenlyon theboil describedby Austin Robinson(1977, p. 29).I can still see Piero Sraffaarchinghis splendid eyebrows andhearhis

strident oneswhen, asI reproachedhimforretractingwo months ater

his previous agreementwith an argumentof mine, he shouted:"I am

not the Pope, I am not infallible," a commentrich in irony when his

lifetime of unswervinghostility to the Churchof Romeis considered.

I have written elsewhere aboutmy admiration or Joan Robinson'swork. I admiredand loved its creator more. Joan was a very human

person, capableof great love, anger and dislike, not always fair but

always honest, as harsh on herself as on those she criticized, often

overbearing,yet possessedof sensitivity, self-knowledge,andgenuinewarmth.Herupbringingand herclass made it difficult for her to be the

democrat she desperatelywould have liked to have been. She fought

tenaciouslyfor thecausesshebelievedin-she loathed

racism, sexism,war,for example-and she was anextraordinarilyoyal friend. Recent-

ly, thoughold andill, she forced herself to do a stint at a United States

universityin orderto show solidaritywith a black economist who she

consideredhad been unfairly reatedby being denied tenure at another

university.She gave her TannerLecturesin Utah on the arms race,

againwhile recoveringfrom a seriousillness andhavingbeen advised

by herdoctor not to fly. Nevertheless,at theage of 77, she felt that this

issue was the most pressing facing us, so she got herself up on thedetailsin orderto give thelectures. So it is easy to forgivehertendencyto stereotypecertainnationalities or groups-Americans or Marxists,for example-for, after all, she was the principal loser by denyingherself thegive andtake of dialoguethatsheotherwisewould havehad,and usually did.

JoanRobinson andPiero Sraffawere personsof great intelligence,

courage and integrity. Both possessed a civilized wit, examples ofwhich are to be found in theirwritings, and, even more, in the anec-







THE END OF AN ERA: ROBINSONAND SRAFFA 469

dotes whichtheirfriendsaffectionatelyelate.Theirdeathsmark he

endof anera ntheprofession ut t is thesenseofpersonaloss whichisuppermostnthemindsof thosewhoknew hemwelland oved hem

unreservedly.

REFERENCE

Robinson,Austin. "Keynes and His CambridgeColleagues." In Keynes, Cambridgeand theGeneralTheory.Ed. by Don PatinkinandJ. ClarkLeith. London:Macmillan, 1977.





Documents

G. Harcourt - The End of an Era