Robinson, Joan Violet (1903-1983), was a British economist whose theories have significantly influenced economic thought. She was a leader of the British school of Keynesian economics, which follows the doctrines of the British economist John Maynard Keynes.
Robinson helped Keynes develop his doctrines, which revolutionized economic policy during the 1930’s. Like Keynes, she believed that government spending could prevent depressions and widespread unemployment. She extended Keynesian concepts to such long-term issues as economic growth and technical change.
Robinson believed capitalistic systems were unstable because of conflicts between business and labor over each other’s share of income. She proposed that government policies be established to determine the distribution of income between the two groups.
Robinson was born on Oct. 31, 1903 near London. She graduated from Cambridge University in 1925, and she served as a professor of economics there until 1973. She wrote many books, including The Economics of Imperfect Competition (1933), Marxian Economics (1952), and Economic Heresies (1971). She died on Aug. 5, 1983.
