Robert Bigg
@robertbigg.bsky.social
History of Economics; Information Systems &c. Still looking through post-Keynesian tinted glasses: we have been seduced by the maths not convinced by the poets.
Currently working on Alvin Hansen, Sidney Alexander, & Theodor Gregory.
https://rbigg.github.io
Currently working on Alvin Hansen, Sidney Alexander, & Theodor Gregory.
https://rbigg.github.io
Disequilibrium perhaps had its heyday In the 70s/80s, for example, Frank Hahn looked at conjectural equilibria & found “if it will prove possible to make conjectures less arbitrary it will have to be done in a Marshallian way. This is not a conclusion congenial to a general equilibrium man.”
September 6, 2025 at 6:36 PM
Disequilibrium perhaps had its heyday In the 70s/80s, for example, Frank Hahn looked at conjectural equilibria & found “if it will prove possible to make conjectures less arbitrary it will have to be done in a Marshallian way. This is not a conclusion congenial to a general equilibrium man.”
And what you rarely see is some sort of balance sheet approach, which might be a lot more informative. Alvin Hansen suggested a current and capital account approach to the US budget post the Great Depression, not that it came to anything!
July 12, 2025 at 12:02 PM
And what you rarely see is some sort of balance sheet approach, which might be a lot more informative. Alvin Hansen suggested a current and capital account approach to the US budget post the Great Depression, not that it came to anything!
This week’s interesting titles!
Leigh’s short history is a great intro: putting the econ into an historical, social, institutional, & technological setting. Whereas Decolonizing Econ seeks to challenge our whole Eurocentric approach. They have an element of a return to political economy in common.
Leigh’s short history is a great intro: putting the econ into an historical, social, institutional, & technological setting. Whereas Decolonizing Econ seeks to challenge our whole Eurocentric approach. They have an element of a return to political economy in common.
May 24, 2025 at 11:17 AM
This week’s interesting titles!
Leigh’s short history is a great intro: putting the econ into an historical, social, institutional, & technological setting. Whereas Decolonizing Econ seeks to challenge our whole Eurocentric approach. They have an element of a return to political economy in common.
Leigh’s short history is a great intro: putting the econ into an historical, social, institutional, & technological setting. Whereas Decolonizing Econ seeks to challenge our whole Eurocentric approach. They have an element of a return to political economy in common.
Back where we had our wedding reception 40 years ago… changed a bit since!!
March 30, 2025 at 7:27 PM
Back where we had our wedding reception 40 years ago… changed a bit since!!
Looking forward to getting further into this book by @dianecoyle1859.bsky.social
Encouraged by the introduction including “What does ‘better’ mean?” (NB in 1957 Hansen would have already included nutrition, health, education, recreation…) and “The fundamental issue is the definition of value”.
Encouraged by the introduction including “What does ‘better’ mean?” (NB in 1957 Hansen would have already included nutrition, health, education, recreation…) and “The fundamental issue is the definition of value”.
March 15, 2025 at 2:17 PM
Looking forward to getting further into this book by @dianecoyle1859.bsky.social
Encouraged by the introduction including “What does ‘better’ mean?” (NB in 1957 Hansen would have already included nutrition, health, education, recreation…) and “The fundamental issue is the definition of value”.
Encouraged by the introduction including “What does ‘better’ mean?” (NB in 1957 Hansen would have already included nutrition, health, education, recreation…) and “The fundamental issue is the definition of value”.
As students we spend Sunday reading the two main broadsheets, The Observer & Sunday Times over a long shared lunch, this picture must have been from 1977-8.
March 9, 2025 at 8:58 AM
As students we spend Sunday reading the two main broadsheets, The Observer & Sunday Times over a long shared lunch, this picture must have been from 1977-8.
Looking forward to the contents of this delivery for tea later… the Chelsea buns come with an extra pot of sticky sauce. #Fitzbillies
January 17, 2025 at 12:43 PM
Looking forward to the contents of this delivery for tea later… the Chelsea buns come with an extra pot of sticky sauce. #Fitzbillies
No.8 (it seems our instigator has dropped out already, but one or two more old classics won’t go amiss)
November 23, 2024 at 1:39 PM
No.8 (it seems our instigator has dropped out already, but one or two more old classics won’t go amiss)
Not sure how we’re doing the sequence, as per comment above hashtag? Or thread…?- anyhow No.2
November 17, 2024 at 4:08 PM
Not sure how we’re doing the sequence, as per comment above hashtag? Or thread…?- anyhow No.2
Silk Roads at the British Museum is a fascinating exposition of the interaction of trade, culture, technology, and thought: from East to West. Very busy having only just opened, so must return later.
Just as uplifting was the reopened old British Library Reading Room, such a great room for working!
Just as uplifting was the reopened old British Library Reading Room, such a great room for working!
October 3, 2024 at 2:22 PM
Silk Roads at the British Museum is a fascinating exposition of the interaction of trade, culture, technology, and thought: from East to West. Very busy having only just opened, so must return later.
Just as uplifting was the reopened old British Library Reading Room, such a great room for working!
Just as uplifting was the reopened old British Library Reading Room, such a great room for working!
As an appetizer for the weekend, or just a timeline break, a vista from near Ashover Rock in Derbyshire earlier this week. The annual Ashover Show is quite an event too!
August 16, 2024 at 1:30 PM
As an appetizer for the weekend, or just a timeline break, a vista from near Ashover Rock in Derbyshire earlier this week. The annual Ashover Show is quite an event too!
I can offer you a southern one near here, obviously not quite the same grimness! But nonetheless some still relying on horse power.
August 9, 2024 at 6:58 PM
I can offer you a southern one near here, obviously not quite the same grimness! But nonetheless some still relying on horse power.
You could always go further northeast, this is near Barnsley… but no canal!
August 9, 2024 at 6:41 PM
You could always go further northeast, this is near Barnsley… but no canal!
Here is a prescient gem from 1930 on economic self-sufficiency
July 23, 2024 at 4:24 PM
Here is a prescient gem from 1930 on economic self-sufficiency
A very 30s dust jacket for this collection of reprinted articles from 1925-33. A great introduction and a few gems!
July 23, 2024 at 4:19 PM
A very 30s dust jacket for this collection of reprinted articles from 1925-33. A great introduction and a few gems!
TE Gregory, now largely forgotten, was the archetypal defender of the gold standard well past its expiry date. However his 1933 comments on the aims of monetary policy, not simply as price stability but as a broader stability have perhaps endured, even if overly optimistic in a preKeynesian age.
July 19, 2024 at 6:33 PM
TE Gregory, now largely forgotten, was the archetypal defender of the gold standard well past its expiry date. However his 1933 comments on the aims of monetary policy, not simply as price stability but as a broader stability have perhaps endured, even if overly optimistic in a preKeynesian age.
In 1933 TE Gregory published a collection of earlier articles as a book, quite common in the period. Thus the introduction is of interest. This is quite a comment on the interaction of economics and economic history. Here he credits his links with Lilian Knowles, Foxwell & Cannan
July 19, 2024 at 6:17 PM
In 1933 TE Gregory published a collection of earlier articles as a book, quite common in the period. Thus the introduction is of interest. This is quite a comment on the interaction of economics and economic history. Here he credits his links with Lilian Knowles, Foxwell & Cannan
Robert Cord’s next volume in the Palgrave Companion series is now out, this time on the development of Harvard Economics.
July 9, 2024 at 12:28 PM
Robert Cord’s next volume in the Palgrave Companion series is now out, this time on the development of Harvard Economics.