Austin in the Faculty of Economics and Politics and Sidney Sussex College

In the Faculty of Economics and Politics at Cambridge, Austin not only taught but also played a major role in its administration. The building which now bears his name (it was so christened at the party in honour of his 90th birthday) is very much the outcome of his enthusiasm and persistence. As well as lecturing and supervising, Austin had long spells as Secretary of the Faculty Board and also as its Chairman. The clashes between the Keynesians and the Robertsonians were fierce and unyielding in the post-war years. Austin did his best to bring peace and maintain cohesion. James Meade, who came to Cambridge in the late 1950s and who was witness to some of the toughest debates, thought that Austin tried hard to be fair and obtain principled compromises, even if often in practice they favoured one side more than the other. In any event, Austin was faced with a virtually impossible task in a Faculty where consensus is defined as agreeing with whoever is speaking.

In September 1965, Austin retired from his Chair to have nearly 30 years more of extremely active life. He was physically frail towards the end—he was knocked off his bicycle by a motorist about 10 years before he died and injured his back. It continued to trouble him despite the efforts of a renowned osteopath who ministers, usually most effectively, to the underworld of the back sufferers of Cambridge. Nevertheless, some of his best papers were written in his 80s and early 90s. The editors of the Cambridge Journal of Economics often used him as a reliable, critical, but fair-minded referee. In a book published in 1984, Economics in Disarray, Austin’s contribution, a comment on Peter Wiles on the full-cost principle, stands out for its clarity and deep economic intuition. It reflects his knowledge of firms, his exchanges in the 1950s with the full-cost theorists of Oxford, and his experiences from his years as a Syndic of the Cambridge University Press. He also wrote his superb autobiographical essay, ‘My Apprenticeship as an Economist’ for Szenberg’s 1992 volume on Eminent Economists, which, together with his obituary of Keynes in the March 1947 Economic Journal, most typically reflect Austin’s great strengths as an economist, perceptive human being, and elegant stylist.

As we noted, Austin was elected to a Fellowship in Sidney Sussex in 1931. From then on, the College was a central focus of his life, especially after Joan died in 1983 and Austin moved from their house in Grange Road to a flat opposite the College. Roger Andrew, a former Bursar of Sidney who was close to Austin, writes (personal communication): ‘[Austin’s] enthusiasm for the College and his concern for it [are] known only to those within its framework. The ideal for College life is the City State of Plato in which like minds administer and further the affairs of the establishment. Austin filled this position admirably ... His philosophy was to guide and to bring those other members by persuasion to a similar belief’. Austin’s daughter, Barbara Jeffrey, writes that (personal communication) ‘he also felt it was important to college life that people should be able to get on well with one another’.

In his address at the Memorial Service for Austin in November 1993, Alan Hughes, Austin’s colleague and an economics Fellow of Sidney, spoke of Austin’s role as an active member of the Investments Committee responsible for the management of the stock market portfolio set up in the 1960s, of his many gifts of, for example, silver plate and carpets for public rooms and of the ‘exceptionally generous bequest to Sidney to further education and research’ (personal communication). He described Austin in retirement ‘as a familiar figure in college, especially in the continuation of his life-long association with the chapel. His interest in sport.meant that any other fellow with a similar interest in following [horse racing and rugby] on TV would often find an agreeable companion in Austin’, not least because of the wine he provided to offset the bitter reaction to an Oxford try on ‘a gloomy mid-winter Tuesday’ (personal communication).