[Politico] Alan Krueger, a celebrated labor economist whose research influenced Democratic policy on the minimum wage, died this past weekend at 58.The cause of death was suicide, according to a statement from Krueger’s family released by Princeton University, where Krueger held a chair in political economy.
Krueger was chair of the White House Council of Economic Advisers under Obama and chief economist at the Labor Department under President Bill Clinton. A leading scholar on jobs, wages, and income distribution, Krueger joined the Princeton faculty in 1987.
"He saw economic policy not as a matter of abstract theories, but as a way to make people’s lives better," former President Barack Obama said in a written statement. "Through it all, he had a perpetual smile and a gentle spirit‐even when he was correcting you."
"A wonderful person, a very great economist," tweeted the Nobel prizewinning economist and New York Times columnist Paul Krugman, "who transformed our understanding of labor markets, and one of our finest public servants."