Alan Krueger mattered

Abstract

Alan Krueger mattered in so many different ways that it’s hard to capture. Alan and his colleagues at Princeton single-handedly changed the way the economics profession addresses issues of causality versus correlation. Alan also mattered because he was an amazing mentor. It’s hard to find a person in empirical economics that doesn’t have a story about Alan' mentorship. Finally, Alan mattered because he had an important influence on economic policies in the U.S. Along every professional dimension that I personally value, be it academic success, policy influence, even engaging in new and fun areas, Alan was a leader.