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2021 | OriginalPaper | Buchkapitel

Chapter 10: Joan Robinson on Economic Pluralism

verfasst von : Irene van Staveren

Erschienen in: Alternative Ideas from 10 (Almost) Forgotten Economists

Verlag: Springer International Publishing

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Abstract

This chapter draws on the insights by the grande dame of economics, the post-Keynesian economist Joan Robinson. She not only criticized the dominant economic theory (neoclassical economics) but also argued for pluralism in economic teaching. Her work focused on the dynamics of markets, arguing that there is no such thing as a stable equilibrium. It is precisely because of this dynamism that small differences in fully competitive markets can result in oligopolies over time due to economies of scale. She warned against the increasing concentration of firms at the cost of consumers and workers, who see their bargaining power disappear. Thirty years after her death, students of economics continue her plea for pluralism, with the global student movement Rethinking Economics.

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Vorheriges Kapitel Chapter 9: Adam Smith on the Abuse of Markets

Nächstes Kapitel Conclusion: Economics for a Postcapitalist Economy

The transcript is available from the US Public Broadcasting Service: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/greenspan-admits-flaw-to-congress-predicts-more-economic-problems, Accessed on June 4, 2020.

Liz Morrish, “Pressure Vessels: The Epidemic of Poor Mental Health among Higher Education Staff” HEPI Occasional Paper 20 (Oxford: HEPI, 2019). https://www.hepi.ac.uk/2019/05/23/pressure-vessels-the-epidemic-of-poor-mental-health-among-higher-education-staff/, Accessed on July 16, 2020. The good news is that academics worldwide have called for a change in the assessment of research: San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA), https://sfdora.org/, Accessed on June 29, 2020.

See for example a report by IMF’s Independent Evaluation Office (IEO), showing that IMF forecasts are generally incorrect and particularly optimistic after a crisis: Independent Evaluation Office of the IMF. “IMF Forecasts—Process, Quality, and Country Perspectives” (Washington, DC: IEO, 2014). https://www.elibrary.imf.org/doc/IMF017/20867-9781475599510/20867-9781475599510/Other_formats/Source_PDF/20867-9781484363836.pdf, Accessed on June 29, 2020.

IMF, World Economic Outlook—Uneven Growth, Short- and Long-Term Factors. Washington, DC: International Monetary Fund, April 2015. https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/WEO/Issues/2016/12/31/World-Economic-Outlook-April-2015-Uneven-Growth-42382, Accessed on June 29, 2020.

https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2019-imf-forecasts/, Accessed on June 8, 2020.

Here is a link to a website with a Buffet indicator: https://www.gurufocus.com/stock-market-valuations.php, Accessed on June 4, 2020. On 4th June 2020, his prediction was that the stock market was “significantly overvalued”.

Gillian Tett. Fool’s Gold. The Inside Story of J.P. Morgan and How Wall St, Greed Corrupted its Bold Dream and Created a Financial Catastrophe (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2010). Joris Luyendijk. Swimming with Sharks. My Journey into the World of the Bankers (London: Guardian Faber, 2015).

Urgenda is an NGO that demands the Dutch government to stick to its own commitments to reduce carbon emissions by 25% at the end of 2020 as compared to 1990. For information in English: https://www.urgenda.nl/en/home-en/, Accessed on June 4, 2020.

This is what two economists have argued for in a recent book: a much clearer separation of economic analysis and policy design based on the recognition that policy advise involves normative decisions that should be left to politicians and not to economists: David Colander and Craig Freedman. Where Economics Went Wrong (Princeton, Princeton University Press, 2019).

The data, tables and figures and spreadsheets can be found on the website of Thomas Piketty: http://piketty.pse.ens.fr/en/capital21c2, Accessed on June 4, 2020.

Thomas Piketty. Capital in the 21st Century (Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2014, p. 575).

http://www.rethinkeconomics.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/CM-Curric-Review.pdf, Accessed on July 16, 2020.

J. Tieleman, S. de Muijnck, M. Kavelaars, and F. Ostermeijer. “Thinking like an Economist? A Quantitative Analysis of Economics Bachelor Curricula in the Netherlands.” (Rethinking Economics NL, 2018). http://www.rethinkingeconomics.nl/uploads/5/3/2/2/53228883/thinking_like_an_economist.pdf, Accessed on June 16, 2020.

For the translation in English, see: https://assoeconomiepolitique.org/wp-content/uploads/TIROLE_Letter.pdf, Accessed on June 5, 2020.

The English version of the reply to Tirole can be found here: https://assoeconomiepolitique.org/wp-content/uploads/FAPE-Open-letter-to-Tirole-January-2015.pdf, Accessed on June 5, 2020.

Joan Robinson. Contributions to Modern Economics (New York: Academic Press of Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1978), p. 75.

Joan Robinson. Economic Philosophy (London: Watts, 1962).

See for example an important volume on postcolonialism and economics: Eiman Zein-Elabdin, and S. Charusheela, eds. Postcolonialism meets Economics (New York: Routledge, 2004).

Joan Robinson, The Economics of Imperfect Competition. Second Edition (London: Macmillan, 1962 [1933]).

In 2018, these were AB InBev, Heineken, and China Resources Snow Breweries: https://www.statista.com/statistics/257677/global-market-share-of-the-leading-beer-companies-based-on-sales/

Joan Robinson. Essays in the Theory of Economic Growth (London: Macmillan, 1962).

Robinson. Theory of Economic Growth, p. 76.

Zohreh Emami. “History versus Equilibrium: Joan Robinson on Teaching Economics.” International Journal of Social Economics 19, 10/11/12 (1992): 83–94.

Interestingly, it was not published as an article or letter but as an advertisement in one of the top-five economic journals: ‘A Plea for Pluralist and Rigorous Economics,’ American Economic Review 82, 2 (1992).

John Stuart Mill. On Liberty (London: Walter Scott Publishing, 1859), p. 37.

Marion Fourcade, Etienne Ollion, and Yann Algan. “The Superiority of Economists.” Journal of Economic Perspectives 29, 1 (2015): 89–114.

The AEA Code of Professional Conduct can be found here: https://www.aeaweb.org/about-aea/code-of-conduct, Accessed on June 29, 2020.

The code includes the following paragraph: “The AEA encourages the ‘perfect freedom of economic discussion.’ This goal requires an environment where all can freely participate and where each idea is considered on its own merits. Economists have a professional obligation to conduct civil and respectful discourse in all forums, including those that allow confidential or anonymous participation.” https://www.aeaweb.org/about-aea/code-of-conduct, Accessed on June 29, 2020.

Fourcade et al. (2015), p. 97.

Fourcade et al. (2015), p. 99.

Fourcade et al. (2015), p. 108.

See Sen’s autobiographical text for the Nobel Memorial Prize website: https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/economic-sciences/1998/sen/biographical/, Accessed on June 15, 2020.

Geoffrey Harcourt. “Joan Robinson 1903–1983.” The Economic Journal 105, September (1995): 1228–1243.

This quote can be found in Alex Millow. “Joan Robinson’s Disillusion with Economics.” Review of Political Economy 15, 4 (2003): 561–574 (p. 561).

http://www.rethinkeconomics.org/about/our-story/, Accessed on June 15, 2020.

Joe Earle, Cahal Moran, and Zach Ward Perkins. The Econocracy. The Perils of Leaving Economics to the Experts (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2016).

Rethinking Economics UK. “Employer’s Report 2018,” http://www.rethinkeconomics.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/RE_Research_Report_2018_PROOF.pdf, Accessed on June 15, 2020.

Liliann Fischer, Joe Hasell, Christopher Proctor, David Uwakwe, Zach Ward Perkins, and Catriona Watson. Rethinking Economics: An Introduction to Pluralist Economics (London: Routledge, 2017).

The Rethinking Economics group in the Netherlands has asked me to be on their board in an advisory role—ah honourable position that I have gladly accepted.

http://www.heterodoxnews.com/hed/study-programs.html, Accessed on June 16, 2020.

See, for example, a recent book on how to teach pluralist economics: Samuel Decker, Wolfram Elsner, and Svenja Flechtner (eds.). Advancing Pluralism in Teaching Economics: International Perspectives on a Textbook Science (London: Routledge, 2018). There is also a journal about pluralism and economics education, called the International Journal on Pluralism and Economics Education: https://www.inderscience.com/jhome.php?jcode=ijpee#:~:text=International%20Journal%20of%20Pluralism%20and,business%20and%20industry%20through%20research, Accessed on June 16, 2020.

https://www.uni-siegen.de/zsb/studienangebot/master/pluraleoekonomik.html.en, Accessed on June 16, 2020.

The textbook: Irene van Staveren. Introduction to Economics from a Pluralist and Global Perspective (London: Routledge, 2015). The MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) can be found on platform Coursera and is free (unless one wants to obtain a certificate, which costs 50 US dollar). The course has had, at the moment of writing this chapter, over 35,000 learners. https://www.coursera.org/learn/intro-economic-theories, Accessed on June 16, 2020.

“A Plea for Pluralist and Rigorous Economics.” American Economic Review 82, 2 (1992).

Colander, David, and Craig Freedman. Where Economics Went Wrong. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2019.CrossRef

Decker, Samuel, Wolfram Elsner, and Svenja Flechtner (eds.). Advancing Pluralism in Teaching Economics: International Perspectives on a Textbook Science. London: Routledge, 2018.

Earle, Joe, Cahal Moran, and Zach Ward Perkins. The Econocracy. The Perils of Leaving Economics to the Experts. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2016.

Emami, Zohreh. “History versus Equilibrium: Joan Robinson on Teaching Economics.” International Journal of Social Economics 19, 10/11/12 (1992): 83–94.

Fischer, Liliann, Joe Hasell, Christopher Proctor, David Uwakwe, Zach Ward Perkins, and Catriona Watson. Rethinking Economics: An Introduction to Pluralist Economics. London: Routledge, 2017.CrossRef

Fourcade, Marion, Etienne Ollion, and Yann Algan. “The Superiority of Economists.” Journal of Economic Perspectives 29, 1 (2015): 89–114.CrossRef

Harcourt, Geoffrey. “Joan Robinson 1903–1983.” The Economic Journal 105, September (1995): 1228–1243.

IMF. “World Economic Outlook—Uneven Growth, Short- and Long-Term Factors.” Washington, DC: International Monetary Fund, April 2015. https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/WEO/Issues/2016/12/31/World-Economic-Outlook-April-2015-Uneven-Growth-42382, Accessed on June 29, 2020.

Independent Evaluation Office of the IMF. “IMF Forecasts—Process, Quality, and Country Perspectives.” Washington, DC: IEO, 2014. https://www.elibrary.imf.org/doc/IMF017/20867-9781475599510/20867-9781475599510/Other_formats/Source_PDF/20867-9781484363836.pdf, Accessed on June 29, 2020.

Luyendijk, Joris. Swimming with Sharks. My Journey Into the World of the Bankers. London: Guardian Faber, 2015.

Mill, John Stuart. On Liberty. London: Walter Scott Publishing, 1859.

Millow, Alex. “Joan Robinson’s Disillusion with Economics.” Review of Political Economy 15, 4 (2003): 561–574 (p. 561).

Morrish, Liz. “Pressure Vessels: the Epidemic of Poor Mental Health among Higher Education Staff.” HEPI Occasional Paper 20. Oxford: HEPI, 2019. https://www.hepi.ac.uk/2019/05/23/pressure-vessels-the-epidemic-of-poor-mental-health-among-higher-education-staff/, Accessed on July 16, 2020.

Piketty, Thomas. Capital in the 21st Century. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2014, p. 575.

Rethinking Economics UK. “Employer’s Report 2018.” http://www.rethinkeconomics.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/RE_Research_Report_2018_PROOF.pdf, Accessed on June 15, 2020.

Robinson, Joan. The Economics of Imperfect Competition. Second Edition. London: Macmillan, 1962a [1933].

———. Economic Philosophy. London: Watts, 1962b.

———. Essays in the Theory of Economic Growth. London: Macmillan, 1962c.

———. Contributions to Modern Economics. New York: Academic Press of Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1978.

Staveren, Irene van. Introduction to Economics from a Pluralist and Global Perspective. London: Routledge, 2015.

Tett, Gillian. Fool’s Gold. The Inside Story of J.P. Morgan and How Wall St, Greed Corrupted its Bold Dream and Created a Financial Catastrophe. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2010.

Tieleman, J., S. de Muijnck, M. Kavelaars, and F. Ostermeijer. “Thinking like an Economist? A Quantitative Analysis of Economics Bachelor Curricula in the Netherlands.” Rethinking Economics NL, 2018. http://www.rethinkingeconomics.nl/uploads/5/3/2/2/53228883/thinking_like_an_economist.pdf, Accessed on June 16, 2020.

Zein-Elabdin, Eiman, and S. Charusheela (eds.). Postcolonialism Meets Economics. New York: Routledge, 2004.

Titel: Chapter 10: Joan Robinson on Economic Pluralism
verfasst von: Irene van Staveren
Verlag: Springer International Publishing
Buch: Alternative Ideas from 10 (Almost) Forgotten Economists
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-57608-0

Electronic ISBN: 978-3-030-57609-7

Copyright-Jahr: 2021
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-57609-7_11

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