2. Robinson and Sra¤a

In this chapter I follow the evolution of Joan Robinson’s appreciation of Sra¤a’s “critique of economic theory”over the years. My purpose is twofold: …rst, to construct a narrative based also on the archival …ndings; second, to shed some light on certain dividing issues–as we shall see in the …nal section– which impinged on the fortunes of the “Cambridge school”, in search of a clue to explain its “fall from grace” (Desai, 1985). The main conclusion of this chapter is that despite her participation in and continual reference to the critique of marginalist theory in her life, Robinson never adopted the Sra¢ an apparatus as her own and at least in one respect she misunderstood Sra¤a’s point. The chapter is organized as follows: Section 2 considers the archival evidence of the early in‡uence of Sra¤a and …nds that Robinson did not accept his rejection of Marshallian theory. Section 3 follows the evolution of her independent trajectory, noting the in‡uence of Marx on her view of “history v. equilibrium.” Section 4 shows that Robinson’s escape from Sra¤a could not endure since she needed a theory of pro…t as a foundation of her own contribution. But as section 5 shows Robinson demanded early on that time be built into Sra¤a’s critique in a way that it was not intended. The penultimate section probes the depth of the break with Sra¤a and her alignment with Keynes in his emphasis of history. A concluding section sums up.