Nuno Ornelas Martins, professor at Católica Porto Business School and President of the school's Scientific Council, was the keynote speaker at the inaugural workshop of the GirtonTalks initiative, which celebrated the 120th anniversary of Joan Robinson's birth in Cambridge. The event, entitled "Joan Robinson and the Cambridge Reconstruction of Economic Theory", is available in open access here.

Joan Robinson is widely recognised as the most important economist of the 20th century and one of the most influential figures in the history of economics. The article analyses her contributions to economic theory, starting with her analysis of imperfect competition and moving on to her participation in the Keynesian revolution - Before Keynes, the dominant economic theory was based on laissez-faire and the belief that markets, when left to themselves, would self-adjust to achieve full employment.

In the final phase of his career, Robinson rejected several established theories, an attitude often seen as theoretical nihilism (a philosophical stance or criticism of the validity or usefulness of established theories). However, it was also during this period that Joan Robinson outlined a radical plan to reconstruct economic theory, focussing on the distribution of wealth and her approach to historical time. Professor Nuno's article examines the challenges of this project and its ongoing impact.

This is not Nuno Ornelas Martins' first work on the Cambridge school. Author of the book "The Cambridge Revival of Political Economy", he has dedicated himself to exploring the legacy of this tradition, with a special focus on the work of Joan Robinson. Last year, he published an article in the Cambridge Journal of Economics entitled "Joan Robinson and the Reconstruction of Economic Theory", in which he explores Joan Robinson's role in redefining economic theory and her critical view of traditional theories.