A question of incentive? Lionel Robbins and Dennis H. Robertson on the nature and determinants of the supply of labour

David Spencer

The European Journal of the History of Economic Thought, 2005, vol. 12, issue 2, 261-278

Abstract: This paper compares two articles by Lionel Robbins (1930) and by Dennis H. Robertson (1921) on the topic of labour supply. Robertson's article is shown to anticipate the main results of Robbins's seminal article. Yet, Robertson covers a number of other issues (e.g. constraints on hours worked and the impact of non-pecuniary factors) that are neglected by Robbins. Robertson's article is used to illustrate important gaps and omissions in the economics literature on labour supply that have occurred through the acceptance of some of the arguments contained in Robbins's article.

Keywords: Robbins; Robertson; labour supply; incentives; disutility (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2005
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DOI: 10.1080/09672560500112702

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