Joan Robinson's historical time and the current state of post-Keynesian growth theory.

This article examines Joan Robinson's emphasis on the importance of historical time in economic analysis and assesses how post-Keynesian growth theory, particularly the "Kalecki–Robinson" tradition, has incorporated her insights. It distinguishes between two levels of historical time: a higher, fundamentalist level that resists formal modeling, and a lower, more practical level that allows for tractable economic theorizing while approximating historical dynamics. The paper identifies three classes of post-Keynesian growth models consistent with low-level historical time—provisional equilibrium models, traverse analyses, and shifting equilibrium models—all of which move beyond standard equilibrium analysis by incorporating uncertainty, path dependence, and ongoing adjustment processes. These models treat equilibrium as a temporary or moving reference point rather than a final state, aligning with Robinson's view that economic processes unfold irreversibly in historical time and that equilibrium analysis must be carefully contextualized within this temporal framework.