The English economist Sir Dennis Holme Robertson (1890-1963) was a major figure in the development of economic theory in the 20th century, particularly in the fields of monetary and business cycle theory and policy.

Dennis Robertson was born on May 23, 1890, the son of the Reverend James Robertson, clergyman and headmaster of Haileybury. Educated at Eton and at Trinity College, Cambridge, Robertson gained through his brilliance an abundance of medals, prizes, and honors. A large part of his first notable book, A Study of Industrial Fluctuations (1915), was written at the age of 22, when he was still in his third year of his economic studies. During World War I he served in Egypt and Palestine, winning the Military Cross and, according to rumor, narrowly missing the Victoria Cross.

Robertson was elected fellow of Trinity College in 1914 and reader in economics at Cambridge University in 1930; he remained at Cambridge until 1938. At...