Austin Robinson

Who was Austin Robinson?

E. Austin G. Robinson was a University of Cambridge economist. He was a fellow of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge.

A close associate of John Maynard Keynes, Robinson served as assistant editor during Keynes' period as editor of The Economic Journal; following Keynes' retirement in 1944, Robinson took over the joint editorship with Roy Harrod. He was at the centre of economic policy-making during and after the Second World War, and spent the postwar years working as a professor, editor and economic adviser.

In the course of his life, Robinson also served as a seaplane pilot during the First World War, and spent two years in the 1920s tutoring a Maharajah in India. Disillusioned after his service in the war, Robinson found Keynes's lectures on his The Economic Consequences of the Peace to be "a revelation," influencing Robinson's entry into the study of economics.

The Faculty of Economics at the University of Cambridge is located in the Austin Robinson Building, a tribute to Robinson's contributions to the subject.

Robinson was the husband of economist Joan Robinson. They had two daughters. Austin's brother was the Rt Revd Christopher Robinson, an Anglican bishop.