Colleagues, former students gather to celebrate Princeton Professor Richard Rogerson
Earlier this summer, colleagues, co-authors, and former students of Professor Richard Rogerson traveled to Princeton from across the world to celebrate Rogerson’s distinguished career and his influence as a mentor, teacher, and friend.
Rogerson, who attended the celebratory event alongside his wife Ninette Hupp, is the Charles and Marie Robertson Professor of Public and International Affairs at Princeton.
The conference, held on May 12th and 13th, 2023, was organized by Princeton Professors Mark Aguiar and Gianluca Violante to coincide with Rogerson’s 65th birthday. It was sponsored by the Simpson Center for the Study of Macroeconomics.
Conference attendees gather for a group photo. Photo credit: Paul Papier
Rogerson’s teaching and research interests are in the fields of macroeconomics and labor economics. Throughout his distinguished career, he has published work on labor supply and taxes, business cycle fluctuations, the effects of labor market regulations, financing of public education, and development.
Edward Prescott, a winner of the 2004 Nobel Prize and Rogerson’s former doctoral advisor and colleague, said Rogerson “has revolutionized a major area of economics—and unified it.” At Princeton, Rogerson is the director of both the Louis A. Simpson Center for the Study of Macroeconomics and the Chow Macroeconomic Research Program.
Rogerson earned his Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Minnesota in 1984. Before joining Princeton’s faculty in 2011, he held faculty positions at the University of Rochester, New York University, Stanford University, the University of Minnesota, the University of Pennsylvania, and Arizona State University.
Celebrating through Research
More than fifty colleagues and former students attended the two-day celebratory event, which began with a full day of research presentations followed by a dinner at Prospect House, the Princeton University faculty club.
Claudia Olivetti of Dartmouth College presents at the conference.
At Prospect House, attendees reconnected with old friends and shared cherished memories of their experiences working alongside Rogerson over the last several decades. Rogerson heard from many former students, including Doug Gollin (Oxford University), Claudia Olivetti (Darmouth University), Loris Rubini (University of New Hampshire), and Marcelo Veracierto (Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago). Rogerson’s colleague and former mentor Bob Hall (Stanford University) shared memories, as did Rogerson’s colleagues and co-authors Hugo Hopenhayn (University of California, Los Angeles), Patrick Kehoe (Stanford University) Ellen McGrattan (University of Minnesota), and Randall Wright (University of Wisconsin, Madison).
A highlight of the night was a speech by Rogerson’s wife Ninette Hupp, who discussed her husband’s accomplishments while also celebrating his renowned warmth and devotion to his family, friends, students, and colleagues.
Ninette Hupp, Rogerson’s wife, speaks at the celebratory dinner. Photo credit: Paul Papier
Of his colleague and friend, Princeton Professor Mark Aguiar, the Walker Professor of Economics and International Finance and director of Princeton’s International Economics Section, said: “Richard is a true scholar and one of the most impressive economists I’ve had the pleasure of knowing. He is motivated by real world questions and thinks deeply about how to tackle them. My own research has benefited tremendously from studying his papers. Richard is also a fantastic colleague and a great friend. Working at Princeton has been a pleasure in large part due to the fact that Richard has been here, as well.”
Princeton Professor Gianluca Violante, the Theodore A. Wells ’29 Professor of Economics, said of his colleague: “Richard is an exceptional scholar. Throughout his career he was able to shed new light on key questions in economics about business cycles, labor markets and development. His papers are methodologically rigorous and often quite technical, but always intuitive and sensible in their findings. As a researcher, he has been an inspiration for me, and he continues to be one for the new generations of young economists: you can tell it from the way our Ph.D. students talk about him. He is also a wonderful colleague, someone you know you can always rely on. He was one of the main reasons why I moved to Princeton five years ago. ”
From left to right: Gianluca Violante (Princeton University), Richard Rogerson (Princeton University), and Mark Aguiar (Princeton University). Photo credit: Paul Papier
The conference was a joyous event, and we’re especially grateful to Jennifer Bello, Administrator of the Simpson Center, and Professors Violante and Aguiar for their efforts as organizers and for making the celebration possible.
Richard Rogerson (Princeton) laughs during remarks at the celebratory dinner. Photo credit: Paul Papier
