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— CH. 1 · A SNIPER'S BULLET AND A FARMER'S SON —

Lionel Robbins

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  • Lionel Charles Robbins was born on the 22nd of November 1898 in Sipson, west of London. His father Rowland Richard Robbins worked as a farmer and served on the Middlesex County Council. The family belonged to the Strict Baptist church community. Young Lionel attended home schooling before moving to Hounslow College and Southall County School. He entered University College London in October 1915 to study Arts. Wishing to serve in World War I he began training at Topsham in Devon during early 1916. He joined the Royal Field Artillery as an officer from August 1916 until 1918. On the 12th of April 1917 he was wounded by a sniper during the Battle of the Lys. He returned home with the rank of lieutenant after his recovery.

  • Robbins resumed studies at the London School of Economics in 1920 under Harold Laski and Edwin Cannan. He graduated with first class honours in 1923 according to Ben Pimlott. Dalton described him as the most promising student of his generation at the institution. After graduation he secured a six-month research position for William Beveridge via Dalton. He applied successfully to New College Oxford for a fellowship in economics. References came from Alfred George Gardiner Theodore Gregory and Graham Wallas. It was a one-year lecturing position that ended when he returned to LSE in 1925. Robbins replaced Allyn Abbott Young as Professor of Economics following Young's death in 1929. During the 1930s he built up the department hiring Friedrich von Hayek John Hicks and Nicholas Kaldor. The family moved to Hampstead Garden Suburb upon taking the chair.

  • An Essay on the Nature and Significance of Economic Science appeared in 1932. Robbins defined economics within this treatise as the science which studies human behaviour as a relationship between ends and scarce means which have alternative uses. This definition reached some general acceptance among economists after contention in the 1930s. The book contains six chapters though the second half remains controversial today. Nathan Isaacs influenced the work through their friendship formed during army service. Isaacs had given a paper to the Aristotelian Society in June 1931. Robbins sent Isaacs a copy of his inaugural lecture commenting its content was out of date. He noted it failed to take account of work by Austrians Friedrich Hayek and Ludwig von Mises. Hayek cycle theory and Jacob Viner balance of payments work served as contrasting examples for new theorisation.

  • Robbins clashed with John Maynard Keynes in early October 1930 at the Committee of Economists. The group considered economic policy under Great Depression conditions. It comprised Hubert Henderson Josiah Stamp Arthur Cecil Pigou and Robbins representing academia. Keynes chaired the small working group apart from the Economic Advisory Council. Robbins refused to sign a draft by Keynes including tariffs. He wanted the chance to submit a minority report instead. Keynes would not grant the request since Robbins stood alone in opposition. Robbins compared protectionist views to those of Lord Rothermere and Lord Beaverbrook. He walked out of a meeting after the refusal. He briefed Philip Snowden against the report containing his criticism. Bad feeling persisted for years between LSE and Cambridge economists. Initially Robbins opposed Keynes's 1936 General Theory before later accepting government intervention needs.

  • Robbins joined the British government Central Economic Information Service in summer 1940. The service moved from Cambridge where LSE had relocated during the war. The Service split into the Central Statistical Office and the Economic Section which Robbins headed as Director from September 1941. A points system devised in 1941 for rationing clothing footwear and household goods proved successful. Peggy Joseph and James Meade worked with Robbins on this policy. From 1942 Robbins planned post-war reconstruction alongside Meade. John Boyd Orr and Frank Lidgett McDougall lobbied to put food security on the United Nations agenda. Robbins attended the resulting 1943 conference at Hot Springs Virginia. He represented the United Kingdom also at the Bretton Woods Conference of 1944. He took part in negotiation of the 1946 Anglo-American loan over this period. He became fully reconciled with John Maynard Keynes by then.

  • The Robbins Report of 1963 advocated substantial expansion of higher education in the United Kingdom. It took the line often called now the Robbins principle that demand from those suitably qualified should drive development. Background existed at the LSE for the view taken in work of Richard Layard and Claus Moser. It drew also on recent ideas of Jean Floud and A. H. Halsey. Robbins became the first Chancellor of the new University of Stirling in 1968. He advocated major government support for arts as well as universities. In later life Robbins turned to history of economic thought publishing studies on English doctrinal history. His LSE lectures given in 1980 were later published. The report remains a landmark document in British educational policy history.

  • Robbins was appointed Companion of the Order of the Bath in the 1944 Birthday Honours. He was elected an International Member of the American Philosophical Society in 1955. On the 16th of June 1959 he was created a life peer as Baron Robbins of Clare Market in Westminster. He was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1966. In the 1968 New Year Honours he was appointed Member of the Order of the Companions of Honour. Robbins received an Honorary Doctorate from Heriot-Watt University in 1967. The Lionel Robbins Building at London School of Economics is named after him. Since 2009 that building has had exterior installation artwork Blue Rain by Michael Brown. There is also a Lionel Robbins Building at Nottingham Trent University. His son Richard became an artist who made a bust of Lionel for the LSE collection.

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1898 births1984 deathsAcademics of the London School of EconomicsBritish Army personnel of World War IFellows of the British AcademyInternational members of the American Philosophical Society

Common questions

When was Lionel Robbins born and where did he grow up?

Lionel Charles Robbins was born on the 22nd of November 1898 in Sipson west of London. He grew up in a family that belonged to the Strict Baptist church community.

What role did Lionel Robbins play during World War I?

Lionel Robbins joined the Royal Field Artillery as an officer from August 1916 until 1918. He was wounded by a sniper on the 12th of April 1917 during the Battle of the Lys and returned home with the rank of lieutenant after his recovery.

How did Lionel Robbins define economics in his 1932 book?

Robbins defined economics within An Essay on the Nature and Significance of Economic Science as the science which studies human behaviour as a relationship between ends and scarce means which have alternative uses. This definition reached some general acceptance among economists after contention in the 1930s.

Why did Lionel Robbins clash with John Maynard Keynes in 1930?

Robbins refused to sign a draft economic policy by Keynes including tariffs because he wanted to submit a minority report instead. The group considered economic policy under Great Depression conditions but Keynes would not grant the request since Robbins stood alone in opposition.

What major government service did Lionel Robbins lead starting in 1941?

Robbins headed the Economic Section of the Central Economic Information Service as Director from September 1941. A points system devised in 1941 for rationing clothing footwear and household goods proved successful under his leadership alongside Peggy Joseph and James Meade.

When was Lionel Robbins created Baron Robbins of Clare Market and what honors did he receive later?

On the 16th of June 1959 he was created a life peer as Baron Robbins of Clare Market in Westminster. He received an Honorary Doctorate from Heriot-Watt University in 1967 and was appointed Member of the Order of the Companions of Honour in the 1968 New Year Honours.

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41 references cited across the entry

  1. 1bookLionel RobbinsSusan Howson — Cambridge University Press — 2011
  2. 2odnbRobbins, Lionel Charles, Baron RobbinsSusan Howson
  3. 3odnbRobbins, Caroline (1903–1999)J. R. Pole
  4. 4bookLionel RobbinsSusan Howson — Cambridge University Press — 2011
  5. 5bookLionel RobbinsSusan Howson — Cambridge University Press — 2011
  6. 6bookLionel RobbinsSusan Howson — Cambridge University Press — 2011
  7. 7bookLionel RobbinsSusan Howson — Cambridge University Press — 2011
  8. 8bookLionel RobbinsSusan Howson — Cambridge University Press — 2011
  9. 9bookHugh DaltonBen Pimlott — Macmillan — 1985
  10. 10bookLionel RobbinsSusan Howson — Cambridge University Press — 2011
  11. 11bookLionel RobbinsSusan Howson — Cambridge University Press — 30 September 2011
  12. 12bookLionel RobbinsSusan Howson — Cambridge University Press — 2011
  13. 13bookJohn Maynard Keynes: The economist as saviour, 1920-1937Robert Skidelsky — Papermac — 1994
  14. 14bookThe Wartime Diaries of Lionel Robbins and James Meade, 1943–45Lionel Robbins et al. — Springer — 1990
  15. 15bookLionel RobbinsSusan Howson — Cambridge University Press — 2011
  16. 16bookLionel RobbinsSusan Howson — Cambridge University Press — 2011
  17. 17bookThe Crisis of the Meritocracy: Britain's Transition to Mass Education Since the Second World WarPeter Mandler — Oxford University Press — 2020
  18. 18bookHow We Got Here: The '70sDavid Frum — Basic Books — 2000
  19. 19bookA History of Economic Thought: The LSE LecturesLionel Robbins — Princeton University Press — 1998
  20. 20bookLionel RobbinsSusan Howson — Cambridge University Press — 2011
  21. 21bookLionel RobbinsSusan Howson — Cambridge University Press — 2011
  22. 22bookJohn Maynard KeynesRobert Skidelsky — Macmillan — 1983
  23. 23bookLionel RobbinsSusan Howson — Cambridge University Press — 2011
  24. 24bookLionel RobbinsSusan Howson — Cambridge University Press — 2011
  25. 25bookLionel RobbinsSusan Howson — Cambridge University Press — 2011
  26. 26bookLionel RobbinsSusan Howson — Cambridge University Press — 2011
  27. 27bookLionel RobbinsSusan Howson — Cambridge University Press — 2011
  28. 28bookLionel RobbinsSusan Howson — Cambridge University Press — 2011
  29. 29webAPS Member History
  30. 30webLionel Charles Robbins
  31. 31webHeriot-Watt University Edinburgh: Honorary Graduates
  32. 32webLSE: A Landmark Library
  33. 33webNTU: Paramedic Science
  34. 34bookLionel RobbinsSusan Howson — Cambridge University Press — 2011
  35. 35journalRobbins on the History of Development TheoryWilliam D. Grampp — April 1972
  36. 36bookAn Essay on the Nature and Significance of Economic ScienceLionel Robbins — Macmillan and Co., Limited — 1935
  37. 37journalReview of The Economic Basis of Class Conflict and Other Essays in Political Economy.J. Rumney — 1942
  38. 38journalCentral Planning and Professor RobbinsA. C. Pigou — 1948
  39. 39bookLionel RobbinsSusan Howson — Cambridge University Press — 2011
  40. 40newsLord Robbins, economist, dies; active in the arts and educationPeter Kerr — 18 May 1984
  41. 41webLSE: Lionel Robbins by Richard Robbins27 June 2018