ABSTRACT
Nicholas Kaldor's eventful approach to economic theory and policy had led him to a confrontation with the orthodox economics he had learned from Lionel Robbins so long ago at the London School of Economics. He saw the problem of theoretical economics not as the allocation of scarce resources, but as the understanding of economic growth and income distribution. The problem of policy was how to balance the conflicting objectives so that economic growth could continue apace. Economic growth was not just the provision of employment and the piling up of material goods, but a synonym for rising standards of living. In a search for a more encompassing understanding of the economic real world, Kaldor had returned to his earlier teaching from Allyn Young, who had drawn inspiration from Adam Smith. It is a curiosity that this trend of thought was considered "destructive" by mainstream economists.
