Robert Dennis Collison Black

Robert Denis Collison Black (b.1922) is an Irish economist and historian of economic thought.

R.D.C. Black was educated at Trinity College, Dublin, graduating with First Class Honours in Economics and Political Science in 1941. He gained a PhD in 1943 and an M.A. in 1945. His first academic posting was at Trinity, where he was Deputy for the Professor of Political Economy. He moved to Belfast in 1945 to take up a position in the Department of Economics at The Queen's University of Belfast. Most of Professor Black's career was spent at this university, where he progressed from Assistant Lecturer (1945-1946), through Lecturer (1946-1958) and Senior Lecturer (1958-1961), to Professor of Economics (1962-1985), becoming Head of Department in 1962 - a position he retained for 23 years. From 1967-1970 he was Dean of the Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences, and Pro-Vice Chancellor of the University from 1971 to 1975. After his retirement in 1985 he became Emeritus Professor of Economics, Q.U.B. Professor Black spent time researching and lecturing in Japan and in America, notably at Yale where he was Visiting Professor of Economics, and at Princeton, where he held the position of Rockefeller Foundation Post-Doctoral Fellow (1950-1951). Best known, perhaps, for his work on the economist William Stanley Jevons, Professor Black is the author or editor of over 70 publications including "Economic Thought and the Irish Question" (Cambridge, 1960), "The Economic Writings of Mountifort Longfield" (New York, 1971), and "Economic Theory and Policy in context: the Selected Essays of R.D. Collison Black" (Aldershot, 1995).

Apart from his duties at Queen's, Professor Black was also on the editorial board of the journal History of Political Economy (HOPE). He was a member of several learned societies and is currently the only person to belong to both the Royal Irish Academy and the British Academy. He has received a number of honorary awards, including a Fellowship from Trinity College, Dublin, and a Doctorate from Q.U.B. His public service work has included chairing the Committee of Inquiry into Angling in Northern Ireland, and the Commission of Inquiry into the establishment of a Wages Council in the catering industry, Northern Ireland, as well as being a member of the Industrial Court for Northern Ireland.

Major publications

* "Trinity College, Dublin, and the theory of value, 1832-1863", "Economica", 1945.
* "Centenary History of the Statistical and Social Inquiry Society of Ireland", 1947.
* "The classical economists and the Irish problem", "Oxford Ec. Papers", 1953.
* "Economic Thought and the Irish Question, 1817-1870", 1960.
* "Parson Malthus, the general and the captain", "EJ", 1967.
* "Economic policy in Ireland and India in the time of J.S. Mill", "Economic History Review", 1968.
* "History of economic thought", in "Information Sources in Economics", ed. J. Fletcher, 1971.
* "Smith's contributions in historical perspective", in "The market and the State", eds. A.S. Skinner, T. Wilson, 1976.
* "Ralph George Hawtrey, 1879-1975", "Proceedings BA", 1977.
* "William Stanley Jevons", in "Pioneers of Modern Economics", eds. D.P. O'Brien, J.R. Presley, 1981.
* "The present position and prospects of political economy", in "Methodological Controversy in Economics: Historical Essays in Honour of T.W. Hutchison", ed. A.W. Coats, 1983.
* "Ideas in Economics", 1986.
* "Dr. Kondratieff and Mr. Hyde Clarke", in "Research in the History of Economic Thought and Methodology, 9", ed. W. Samuels, 1992.
* "Economic Theory and Policy in Context: Selected Essays", 1995.

Edited volumes:
* "Economic Writings of Mountiford Longfield", 1971.
* "The Theory of Political Economy by W.S. Jevons", 1971.
* "Readings in the Development of Economic Analysis, 1776-1848", 1971.
* "Papers and Correspondence of William Stanley Jevons" (7 vols.), 1972-1981.
* "The Marginal Revolution in Economics", (co-ed. with A.W. Coats, C.D. Goodwin), 1973.

References

* M. Blaug (ed.) - "Who's who in economics" (3d edition), 1999.
* [http://www.proni.gov.uk/introduction_black_d4115_.pdf Public Record Office of Northern Ireland: Introduction to R.D.C. Black Papers]