A Robinsonian model is a two-sector model with fixed technical coefficients. Aside from Mrs Robinson's own work, similar models, without technical change, have been discussed in two major papers, one by I. M. D. Little and the other by R. Findlay. Mrs Robinson has criticized both these contributions on the ground that they do not treat the rate of growth or accumulation as an exogenous variable, but rather regard it as endogenous, emerging from the model after the real-wage rate has been given. In the first section of this paper I explore the conditions for stable equilibrium growth on Mrs Robinson's assumption of a desired rate of accumulation (a function of “animal spirits” and the rate of profit), and then add to the model neutral technical change of an appropriate sort.
In section II, the effects of introducing biased technical change are examined. I show that the model has “technological stability,” by which I mean that there is a tendency for technical change to be neutral. Predictions and tests about the movement over time of the consumption-good price of capital are made in section III. Finally, I end with a short comment on stability in the short run.