Death of a revolutionary textbook

A little more than a quarter of a century has elapsed since the publication of An Introduction to Modern Economics by Joan Robinson and John Eatwell (1973). This textbook was designed to revolutionize the teaching of elementary economics and to displace the influence of mainstream texts like those of Paul Samuelson and Richard Lipsey. Its lack of success marked something of a turning point in the history of economics, since it symbolized the collapse of the radical attempt to challenge orthodox theory at the pedagogical level. The circumstances in which the book came to be written are explained and the causes and consequences of its failure are examined.