Alan

Krueger

(1960-2019)

 

Published March 26, 2019


Alan Krueger, a superb economist, adviser to two presidents, professor at Princeton and friend of the Milken Institute died unexpectedly on March 16. To read a proper obituary, check out The New York Times, or The Wall Street Journal. And for an appreciation of his truly pathbreaking research in labor economics and public finance, you can’t do better than Paul Krugman’s column.

We are proud to have published a number of his pieces in the Milken Institute Review. Among them:

• His 2015 exposition on “the Great Gatsby Effect,” or why intergenerational economic mobility is so difficult to achieve.

• His 2016 piece (with Seth Harris) on the gig economy and how (and how not) to regulate it.

• His 2017 piece on the surprisingly large role of corporate market power in suppressing wages.

Alan, for all his achievements, was not averse to a little fun — or to finding more to write about while he was at it. Read his thoughts on the economics of rock-and-roll here or have a look at his book, Rockonomics, which will be published in June.

None of this, however, conveys what’s most important about Alan: he was an all-around nice guy with an urgent need to make the world a better place. We miss him already.

main topic: In Memoriam