The Economic Journal - Past Editors

Past Editors

The Economic Journal has been edited by some influential British Economists. The first Editor of the Economic Journal was Francis Ysidro Edgeworth (1845-1926). Edgeworth held a Chair in Economics at King’s College London in 1888, and was appointed Drummond Professor of Political Economy at Oxford University in 1891. Despite his academic credentials, Edgeworth admitted the difficulty of establishing the new journal. He noted that after his appointment as editor:

I wrote to Marshall asking advice on every small difficulty which arose, until he protested that, if the correspondence was to go on at that rate, he would have to use envelopes with my address printed on them.

Edgeworth continued his work as editor until 1911, assisted between 1896 and 1905 by Henry Higgs (1864-1940), one of the founding members of the British Economic Association, and a key player in the Society's application for Royal Charter in 1902. Edgeworth reprised his editorial role between 1918 and 1925 alongside John Maynard Keynes.

John Maynard Keynes (1883-1946), the leading economic theorist, civil service policy maker and the son of John Neville Keynes, took up the Editorial position between 1912 and 1944, ensuring the continued publication of the Journal through both the First World War and the Second World War. During his lengthy term he edited alongside the former student of Marshall and Professor of Political Economics at Leeds University D. H. MacGregor (Joint Editor between 1925 and 1933) and one of his own former students Austin Robinson (Assistant Editor 1934-1940).

The editorship of Sir Austin Robinson (1897-1993) began in 1934 as an Assistant Editor and ended in 1970 as Editor. Robinson was a Government Adviser to the War Cabinet and the Board of Trade before returning to Cambridge as a lecturer. During his 36 year service for the Economic Journal, Robinson also served as secretary for the Royal Economic Society. As commemoration for his dedicated service to the Economic Journal, a prize is now offered in his honour.

Edgeworth and Keynes were the only editors to take sole responsibility for the Economic Journal. As the journal grew in size and significance, so too did the Editorial Board. By the 1980s the EJ was publishing 5 issues a year, supervised by at least six editors. In 1991 this was increased to 6 issues a year and in 1999 the current format of 8 issues per year was established. Today, the Economic Journal is overseen by seven joint Managing Editors.