Alan Krueger
An economist who used data to challenge conventional wisdom on minimum wage and unemployment, bringing empirical rigor to public policy.
1960–2019 (age 59)·American economist·Birthday: September 17·Baby Boomers
Biography
Alan Krueger was an economist who believed numbers could tell human stories. Born in 1960, he brought a relentless curiosity to questions that mattered to everyday workers. His most famous work, co-authored with David Card, analyzed the impact of a New Jersey minimum wage hike on fast-food employment. Contrary to established theory, they found no significant job loss, a finding that shook labor economics and shifted policy debates toward evidence-based analysis. Krueger moved between Princeton's ivory tower and the halls of Washington with ease, serving as an advisor to two presidents and as Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers under Barack Obama. He applied his analytical lens to diverse topics, from the economics of terrorism to the rising cost of college and the dark side of the opioid crisis. Krueger's legacy is that of a public intellectual who insisted that economic policy should be grounded in data, not just dogma, and who always asked whom the economy was truly serving.
Baby Boomers
1946–1964
The largest generation in history at the time. Shaped by postwar prosperity, the Vietnam War, the sexual revolution, and Watergate. They questioned every institution their parents built — then ran them.
Alan was born in 1960, placing them squarely in the Baby Boomers. The events that shaped this generation — postwar prosperity, civil rights, Vietnam, and the counterculture — shaped the world they entered and the choices available to them.
#1 When Alan Was Born
The biggest hits of 1960
#1 Movie
Swiss Family Robinson
Best Picture
The Apartment
#1 TV Show
Gunsmoke
Alan's Life & Times
The world at every milestone
1960Born
Kennedy-Nixon debates become first televised presidential debates
Gas: $0.31/galHome: $11,900Min wage: $1.00/hrPresident: Dwight D. Eisenhower"Theme from A Summer Place" — Percy FaithBest Picture: The Apartment
1965Started school
US sends combat troops to Vietnam
Gas: $0.31/galHome: $13,600Min wage: $1.25/hrPresident: Lyndon B. Johnson"(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" — The Rolling StonesBest Picture: The Sound of Music
1973Became a teenager
US withdraws from Vietnam; Roe v. Wade decided
Gas: $0.39/galHome: $22,100Min wage: $1.60/hrPresident: Richard Nixon"Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree" — Tony Orlando & DawnBest Picture: The Sting
1976Could drive
Apple Computer founded; US bicentennial
Gas: $0.59/galHome: $29,300Min wage: $2.30/hrPresident: Gerald Ford"Silly Love Songs" — WingsBest Picture: Rocky
1978Could vote
First test-tube baby born
Gas: $0.63/galHome: $35,300Min wage: $2.65/hrPresident: Jimmy Carter"Shadow Dancing" — Andy GibbBest Picture: The Deer Hunter
1981Turned 21
MTV launches; first Space Shuttle flight; AIDS identified
Gas: $1.31/galHome: $52,300Min wage: $3.35/hrPresident: Ronald Reagan"Bette Davis Eyes" — Kim CarnesBest Picture: Chariots of Fire
1990Turned 30
Hubble Space Telescope launched; Germany reunifies
Gas: $1.15/galHome: $79,100Min wage: $3.80/hrPresident: George H.W. Bush"Hold On" — Wilson PhillipsBest Picture: Dances with Wolves
2000Turned 40
Y2K passes without incident; contested Bush-Gore election
Gas: $1.51/galHome: $119,600Min wage: $5.15/hrPresident: Bill Clinton"Breathe" — Faith HillBest Picture: Gladiator
2010Turned 50
Deepwater Horizon oil spill; iPad launched
Gas: $2.79/galHome: $147,800Min wage: $7.25/hrPresident: Barack Obama"Tik Tok" — KeshaBest Picture: The King's Speech
2019Died at 59
First image of a black hole; Hong Kong protests
Gas: $2.60/galHome: $224,400Min wage: $7.25/hrPresident: Donald Trump"Old Town Road" — Lil Nas XBest Picture: Parasite
Key Achievements
- Co-authored a landmark 1994 study with David Card that found increasing the minimum wage did not reduce employment, revolutionizing labor economics.
- Served as Chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers for President Barack Obama from 2011 to 2013.
- Developed the 'Krueger Curve,' an economic model analyzing the relationship between terrorism and poverty.
- Authored the book 'What Makes a Terrorist' and 'Rockonomics,' which applied economic principles to the music industry.
Did You Know?
He played lead guitar in a rock band called 'The Frozen Entrees' during his graduate school years at Harvard.
His father was a jeweler, and Krueger worked in the family business as a young man.
He was an avid Bruce Springsteen fan and wrote economic analyses of concert ticket markets.
He taught the introductory economics course at Princeton, which was famously popular with undergraduates.
“The basic idea is that if you raise the price of something, people buy less of it. But labor economists have found it very hard to find negative employment effects of a higher minimum wage.”
