Alan Krueger — LLMpedia

Alan Krueger
Princeton University · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Name	Alan Krueger
Birth date	1960-09-17
Birth place	New York City
Death date	2019-03-16
Death place	Monroe County, New Jersey
Alma mater	Princeton University, Harvard University
Occupation	Economist, professor, public servant
Employer	Princeton University, Harvard University, White House, U.S. Department of the Treasury
Notable works	"Rockonomics"

Contents

Alan Krueger was an American economist and public servant known for empirical research on labor markets, minimum wage, unemployment, and the economics of education. He served in senior policy roles in the Clinton administration and the Obama administration and held faculty positions at Princeton University and Harvard University. Krueger's work influenced debates involving Congress of the United States, Federal Reserve System, International Monetary Fund, and think tanks such as the Brookings Institution and the National Bureau of Economic Research.

Early life and education

Krueger was born in New York City and raised in Livingston, New Jersey and attended Montclair High School. He earned an A.B. from Princeton University where he studied under faculty connected to the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs and later completed a Ph.D. in economics at Harvard University with advisors linked to the National Bureau of Economic Research and scholars associated with Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His doctoral work placed him in conversation with economists from University of Chicago and scholars who contributed to policy at the Council of Economic Advisers.

Krueger joined the faculty of Princeton University and later held a chair at Harvard University, collaborating with colleagues from Yale University, Stanford University, Columbia University, and University of California, Berkeley. He was a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research and served on editorial boards for journals linked to the American Economic Association. Krueger's empirical approach used data from the U.S. Census Bureau, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and surveys administered by institutions such as the National Center for Education Statistics. His studies on the minimum wage engaged debates involving scholars from University of Chicago and policy bodies like the Congressional Budget Office, while his work on unemployment compared analyses from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and international institutions including the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and the International Labour Organization.

Krueger introduced innovative natural experiment techniques used by researchers at Harvard Kennedy School and the London School of Economics, influencing studies related to labor economics at departments in Princeton University and Northwestern University. His collaboration with economists at University of California, Los Angeles and University of Michigan produced widely cited papers that were discussed in forums at the American Enterprise Institute and the Cato Institute.

Krueger served as Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers under President Barack Obama and previously held roles in the U.S. Department of the Treasury during the Clinton administration. In Washington he worked with officials from the White House, lawmakers in the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives, and agencies including the Department of Labor and the Department of Health and Human Services. His policy work addressed issues pertinent to the Great Recession, coordinating with economists from the Federal Reserve Board and international counterparts at the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. Krueger testified before committees chaired by members of the Senate Committee on Finance and the House Committee on Ways and Means, and he advised initiatives tied to stimulus discussions influenced by research from the Brookings Institution and the Urban Institute.

Krueger authored numerous articles and books that engaged academics at Princeton University Press, Harvard University Press, and journals affiliated with the American Economic Association and the National Bureau of Economic Research. His book "Rockonomics" analyzed the intersection of labor markets and the music industry drawing on case studies involving artists represented by firms in Los Angeles and managers who worked in New York City. He published influential papers on the effects of the minimum wage that provoked response from scholars at University of Chicago and policy analysts at the Congressional Budget Office. Other contributions addressed education policy and workforce outcomes, cited by researchers at Stanford University and Yale University and incorporated into reports by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and the National Bureau of Economic Research.

Krueger's methodological innovations in quasi-experimental design influenced empirical work at institutions including Columbia Business School, INSEAD, and the London School of Economics and Political Science. His collaborative research with economists from Princeton University and Harvard University continues to be cited in discussions at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis and policy debates held at the Aspen Institute.

Krueger lived in Princeton, New Jersey and was married with family ties to academic and policy circles in New Jersey and New York City. Colleagues from Princeton University, Harvard University, and the National Bureau of Economic Research remembered his mentorship, which bridged networks including scholars from University of Pennsylvania and public servants from the U.S. Department of the Treasury. He died in 2019 in Monroe Township, Middlesex County, New Jersey, an event noted by peers at institutions such as the Brookings Institution and the American Economic Association.