Princeton University economist Alan Krueger, who served as chairman of President Barack Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers and was one of the profession’s top experts on the labor market, died over the weekend. He was 58.
The New Jersey school announced his death in a statement on its website Monday, without giving a cause. Police in Princeton did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Krueger, who had been a professor at Princeton since 1987, served in Obama’s White House from 2011 to 2013 after a stint as the Treasury Department’s assistant secretary for economic policy. In addition, he served as chief economist at the Labor Department for a year during President Bill Clinton’s administration.
“Alan Krueger taught me about economic policy for more than two decades,” Harvard University professor Jason Furman, who succeeded Krueger as head of the CEA, said on Twitter. “His convincing empirical research on the most important questions is a lasting legacy. A devastating loss.”
Krueger’s research focused mainly on the labor market yet often managed to hit the key political and social debates of the day. He argued in the 1990s that increases in the minimum wage didn’t necessarily lead to job losses, using the experience of New Jersey fast-food restaurants.
More recently, as the opioid epidemic drew headlines, he detailed how nearly half of men age 25 to 54 and not in the labor force took pain medication every day. He suggested that was hurting participation in the workplace.
His work also touched on pop culture, as in the early 2000s when he showed how concert tickets had surged in price and started to generate more revenues for performers than CD sales. Just last week his work was widely cited following the college admissions scandal in the U.S. He had previously concluded admittance to a top university typically benefited black and Hispanic households, and households with lower educational backgrounds, much more than other children.
Princeton said on its website that Krueger “was recognized as a true leader in his field, known and admired for both his research and teaching.”
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.