Economists and Their Critics

Defining Economics: The Long Road to Acceptance of the Robbins Definition

“…Book‐length treatments in the years following the publication of Robbins' Essay include Souter (1933b), MacFie (1936), Beveridge (1937), Fraser (1937), Wooton (1938) and Hutchison (1938). See also the articles by Fraser (1932, 1938), Souter (1933a), Spengler (1934), Knight (1934), Parsons (1934), Hutchison (1935), Machlup (1936), Leontief (1937), Ayres (1938), Durbin (1938), Harrod (1938) and Bye (1939). We leave open the extent to which this literature was a response to Robbins, though all of this did lead Robbins (1938) to seek to disentangle what he called the ‘Live and dead issues in the methodology of economics’.…”

On the Role of Values in Economic Science: Robbins and His Critics

“…This remark prompted Fraser's (1938) reaction, who claimed that Wootton “writes as though she were completely unaware of the protests which the publication of the Essay called forth from Professor Robbins’s professional colleagues” (Fraser 1938, p. 200). In the same paper, Fraser set the record straight, and acknowledged that Robbins had not aimed to prevent economists from giving policy advice.…”

“…In the same paper, Fraser set the record straight, and acknowledged that Robbins had not aimed to prevent economists from giving policy advice. As he rightly emphasized, “[i]t is surely obvious that the author of Economic Planning and International Order is the last person to accuse to confining himself to pure and abstract analysis” (Fraser 1938, p. 200).…”

“…Among the fundamental accusations ''which are today laid at the door of the economists,'' Wootton reported a remoteness from reality and a lack of concern for the practical uses of theoretical research. These features of the discipline were ascribed to the profession in part because of the influence of Robbins's views. This remark prompted Fraser's (1938) reaction, who claimed that Wootton ''writes as though she were completely unaware of the protests which the publication of the Essay called forth from Professor Robbins's professional colleagues'' (Fraser 1938, p. 200). In the same paper, Fraser set the record straight, and acknowledged that Robbins had not aimed to prevent economists from giving policy advice.…”