Quarterly Journal of Austrian Economics

The Enduring Significance of Robbins

The Quarterly Journal of Austrian Economics
Downloads

Volume 12, Number 4 (2009)

So, what is “the enduring significance of Robbins” — the title of this article. For me, it is the stimulus given by Robbins’s Essay for reflection on the uniqueness of the Misesian conception of our subject. Only then can one see its resultant immunity from the critical brickbats hurled Robbins’s way since 1932. Mises and Robbins share a methodologically individualistic perspective, but their differences in exploring its implications are crucial. In his own admirable attempt to extend the methodological perspective of Wicksteed and the Austrian School, Robbins goes very far toward a true grasp of the subject matter, but his grasp falls short of his reach in comparison with Mises. Economics as a science of economizing must yield in generality to economics as a science of human action if a theory of the market process is what is sought.

CITE THIS ARTICLE

Bostaph, Samuel. “The Enduring Significance of Robbins.” The Quarterly Journal of Austrian Economics 12, No. 4 (2009): 89–98.

All Rights Reserved ©
What is the Mises Institute?

The Mises Institute is a non-profit organization that exists to promote teaching and research in the Austrian School of economics, individual freedom, honest history, and international peace, in the tradition of Ludwig von Mises and Murray N. Rothbard. 

Non-political, non-partisan, and non-PC, we advocate a radical shift in the intellectual climate, away from statism and toward a private property order. We believe that our foundational ideas are of permanent value, and oppose all efforts at compromise, sellout, and amalgamation of these ideas with fashionable political, cultural, and social doctrines inimical to their spirit.

Become a Member
Mises Institute