Understanding Dennis Robertson

In this fascinating study Gordon Fletcher explores the relationship between the life and work of one of Britain's most distinguished economists, Sir Dennis Holme Robertson (1890-1963). Drawing on a wealth of previously unpublished material, novel forms of evidence - both biographical and literary, together with a fresh reading of Robertson's principal books and essays, Fletcher argues that Robertsonian economics is indelibly stamped with the impression of Robertson the man and that by better understanding the man we shall better understand his economics. He shows that this is particularly the case with respect to the way in which Robertson's thought developed and to its particular characteristics, which have often been described by commentators but never explained. Most interestingly, he accounts for Robertson's breach with his Cambridge colleague J.M. Keynes. With these insights we glimpse the hidden human face of what is all too often regarded as the bloodless discipline, the dismal science.