Abstract
This chapter contains an outline of Robin Matthews’s life, education, and career. The first section discusses his principal publications during his first years at Cambridge (1949–1965). The highlight publication of his Oxford years (1965–1975) was his explanation in 1968 of why Britain had had full employment since the war. Section 4 covers his years back in Cambridge as Master of Clare (1975–1993) and as Professor of Political Economy (1980–1991). Section 5 concerns Robin and chess, and the final sections cover his other activities and his last illness.
I have been hampered in writing this chapter by being unable to obtain a complete CV of Robin Matthews. As he was a prolific writer, I have had to concentrate on what I hope has been a representative sample of his many wide-ranging publications. I am most grateful to Tony Atkinson, Prue Kerr, Michael Lipton, Alison Matthews, Gay Meeks, the late Aubrey Silberston, Vela Velupillai, Clemens Gresser and the wonderful staff of the Alfred Marshall Library, Claire Butlin of the Clare College Archives, and Bridget Riley, College Secretary, All Souls College, for the great help they gave me while I was writing the chapter.
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Notes
- 1.
I was in Robin’s room in the Cambridge Faculty when Hicks rang to tell him of his election. Believe it or not, I discreetly withdrew as their conversation began.
- 2.
Robin very kindly gave me Minhas’s important 1963 book to review when I was very much a novice economist. This was typical of his behaviour. Reviewing it had a significant impact on my subsequent intellectual development.
- 3.
Vela Velupillai tells me (7 May 2015) that Dick Goodwin probably did not approve of this ‘re-christening’ of the flexible accelerator.
- 4.
One of the greatest intellectual regrets of my life was that I was not present because I caught mumps the week before from a member of the Department of Applied Economics (DAE). He came to work when he was most infectious and I foolishly took it upon myself to tell him to go home as some of us had small children.
- 5.
All page references are to the revised version of the Keynes Lecture.
- 6.
Robin especially singles out Dennis Robertson who quotes ‘from Heraclitus “everything is in flux”: uncertainty and Walt Whitman: “urge and urge and urge, always the procreant urge of the world”: animal spirits’ (ibid.: 107).
- 7.
In retrospect, he came to think that the attempted reforms were misguided, to some extent anyway.
References
Works by R.C.O. Matthews
Matthews, R.C.O. (1954). A Study in Trade Cycle History. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Matthews, R.C.O. (1954–1955). ‘The Saving Function and the Problem of Trend and Cycle’. Review of Economic Studies, 22(2): 75–95.
Matthews, R.C.O. (1959). The Trade Cycle. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Matthews, R.C.O. (1961). ‘Liquidity Preference and the Multiplier’. Economica, New Series, 28(109): 37–52.
Matthews, R.C.O. (1968). ‘Why has Britain had Full Employment since the War?’. Economic Journal, 78(311): 555–569.
Matthews, R.C.O. (1977). ‘Review of Social Limits to Growth (1977), by F. Hirsch’. Economic Journal, 87(347): 574–578.
Matthews, R.C.O. (1986). ‘The Economics of Institutions and the Sources of Growth’. Economic Journal, 96(384): 903–918.
Matthews, R.C.O. (1991). ‘Animal Spirits’. Chapter 7 in J.G. Tulip Meeks (ed.) Thoughtful Economic Man: Essays on Rationality, Moral Rules and Benevolence. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press: 103–125. Reprinted and revised version of R.C.O. Matthews (1984) ‘Animal Spirits’. Proceedings of the British Academy, 70: 209–229.
Matthews, R.C.O. and F.H. Hahn (1964). ‘The Theory of Economic Growth: A Survey’. Economic Journal, 74(296): 779–902.
Matthews, R.C.O., C.H. Feinstein and J.C. Odling-Smee (1982). British Economic Growth, 1856–1973. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
Matthews, R.C.O. and J.R. Sargent (1983). Contemporary Problems of Economic Policy. London: Methuen.
Other Works Referred To
Clare College (2010). ‘Robin Matthews: An Appreciation of his Mastership’. Cambridge University: 5–10.
Coase, R.H. (1937). ‘The Nature of the Firm’. Economica, New Series, 4(16): 386–405.
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Deane, P. and W.A. Cole (1967). British Economic Growth, 1688–1959. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Duesenberry, J.S. (1949). Income, Saving and the Theory of Consumer Behaviour. Harvard: Harvard University Press.
Eichengreen, B.J. (1983). ‘Review of British Economic Growth, 1856–1973 (1982), by R.C.O. Matthews et al.’. Business History Review, 57(2): 311–313.
Goodwin, R.M. (1967). ‘A Growth Cycle’. In part I of C. Feinstein (ed.) Socialism, Capitalism and Economic Growth: Essays Presented to Maurice Dobb. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press: 54–58.
Harcourt, G.C. (1963). ‘A Critique of Mr. Kaldor’s Model of Income Distribution and Economic Growth’. Australian Economic Papers, 2(1): 20–36.
Harcourt, G.C. (2015). ‘Fusing Indissolubly the Cycle and the Trend: Richard Goodwin’s Profound Insight’. Cambridge Journal of Economics, 39(6): 1,569–1,578.
Harcourt, G.C. and M. Monadjemi (1999). ‘The Vital Contributions of John Cornwall to Economic Theory: A Tribute from Two Admiring Friends on the Occasion of His 70th Birthday’. Chapter 2 in M. Setterfield (ed.) Growth, Employment and Inflation: Essays in Honour of John Cornwall. Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire: Macmillan: 10–23.
Harrod, R.F. (1939). ‘An Essay in Dynamic Theory’. Economic Journal, 49(193): 14–33.
Hicks, J.R. (1950). A Contribution to the Theory of the Trade Cycle. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Hirsch, F. (1977). Social Limits to Growth. Henley-on-Thames: Routledge.
Kaldor, N. (1955–1956). ‘Alternative Theories of Distribution’. Review of Economic Studies, 23(2): 83–100.
Kaldor, N. (1957). ‘A Model of Economic Growth’. Economic Journal, 67(268): 591–624.
Kaldor, N. and J.A. Mirrlees (1962). ‘A New Model of Economic Growth’. Review of Economic Studies, 29(3): 174–192.
Kahneman, D. and A. Tversky (1979). ‘Prospect Theory: An Analysis of Decision under Risk’. Econometrica, 47(2): 263–291.
Kalecki, M. (1968). ‘Trend and Business Cycles Reconsidered’. Economic Journal, 78(310): 263–276.
Keynes, J.M. (1921) [1973]. A Treatise on Probability. Volume VIII of The Collected Writings of John Maynard Keynes. London: Macmillan.
Keynes, J.M. (1936) [1973]. The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money. Volume VII of The Collected Writings of John Maynard Keynes. London: Macmillan.
Keynes, J.M. (1937). ‘The General Theory of Employment’. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 51(2): 209–223. Reprinted in The General Theory and After: Part II. Defence and Development. Volume XIV of The Collected Writings of John Maynard Keynes. London: Macmillan: 109–123.
Lipton, M. (2010). ‘Memorial Service for Professor R.C.O. (Robin) Matthews’. 20 November: 20–24.
McCloskey, D.N. (1983). ‘Following the Great U’. The Times Literary Supplement, 6 May: 14–15.
Minhas, B.S. (1963). An International Comparison of Factor Costs and Factor Use. Amsterdam: North Holland.
Mitchell, B.R. and P. Deane (1962). Abstract of British Historical Statistics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Modigliani, F. (1949). ‘Fluctuations in the Saving Ratio: A Problem in Economic Forecasting’. Social Research, 14(4): 413–420.
Modigliani, F. and A.K. Ando (1957). ‘Tests of the Life Cycle Hypothesis of Savings: Comments and Suggestions’. Bulletin of the Oxford University Institute of Statistics, 19(2): 99–124.
Modigliani, F. and R.H. Brumberg (1954). ‘Utility Analysis and the Consumption Function: An Interpretation of Cross-Section Data’. In K.K. Kurihara (ed.) Post-Keynesian Economics. New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press: 388–436.
North, D.C. (1984). ‘Transaction Costs, Institutions, and Economic History’. Zeitschrift für die gesamte Staatswissenschaft, 140(1): 7–17.
Salter, W.E.G. (1960). Productivity and Technical Change. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Salter, W.E.G. (1965). ‘Productivity Growth and Accumulation as Historical Processes’. Chapter 14 in E.A.G. Robinson (ed.) Problems in Economic Development. London: Macmillan: 266–291.
Scitovsky, T. (1977). The Joyless Economy: An Inquiry into Human Satisfaction and Consumer Dissatisfaction. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Silberston, A. (2011), RES Newsletter. 12 January.
The Telegraph (2010). ‘Professor Robin Matthews’. Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/finance-obituaries/7888512/Professor-Robin-Matthews.html.
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Harcourt, G.C. (2017). Robert Charles Oliver (Robin) Matthews (1927–2010). In: Cord, R. (eds) The Palgrave Companion to Cambridge Economics. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-41233-1_43
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