Lionel Robbins (1898–1984)

Who They Were

Lionel Robbins (1898-1984) was a British economist long associated with the London School of Economics, where he was a central figure in twentieth-century British economics. Working across the interwar and post-war decades, he shaped the teaching and self-understanding of the discipline as much as its technical content. He is best remembered not for a single model but for a definition: his account of what economics is as a field of study. Beyond his scholarship he was an influential public servant and educator, and a key participant in debates about economic method. His most famous contribution, An Essay on the Nature and Significance of Economic Science (1932), remains one of the most quoted statements about the scope of the entire subject.

Key Contributions

Robbins's lasting contribution is his definition of economics. In his 1932 Essay on the Nature and Significance of Economic Science, he defined economics as the science that studies human behaviour as a relationship between ends and scarce means that have alternative uses. This formulation is why introductory textbooks still open with scarcity, choice, and trade-offs before any curve is drawn, and it is the definition still quoted in most first lectures. By framing the discipline around scarcity and alternative uses, Robbins made opportunity cost a foundational concept rather than a specialised tool. He is accordingly counted among the key figures in the intellectual history of opportunity cost and of the production possibilities frontier, alongside thinkers from Adam Smith and Frederic Bastiat to Paul Samuelson.

On EconRecall

British economist at the LSE whose 1932 Essay gave economics its enduring definition around scarcity and choice. Play the games that feature Lionel Robbins:

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