It Is Hard to Imagine the Field of Political Economy Without Alberto Alesina

My friend Alberto Alesina, the Nathaniel Ropes professor of political economy at Harvard, died of an apparent heart attack while on a walk with his wife, Susan, on Saturday. His loss comes a shock and a tragic blow to all who knew him and to a broad scholarly community. Less than eight hours before his death, he was corresponding with colleagues about ongoing research. It is hard to imagine the field of political economy without him.

Many in modern universities talk about the importance of interdisciplinary research. Many fewer devote their careers to it and in the process drive the creation of a new field that brings together scholars in previously separate fields. This is what Alberto did with the modern field of political economy.

I first met Alberto when he was a graduate student working on political impacts on the business cycle and issues around central bank independence in the 1980s. At the time, there were a few economists interested in understanding politics rather than telling politicians what to do. And there were a few political scientists interested in economic issues. But there was no academic field of political economy. Today, political economy is an important component of economics and political science. And Alberto deserves much of the credit. As much or more than anyone else, he showed what could be achieved by bringing economic analysis to bear on political questions.

Again and again, Alberto posed and answered important questions at the interface of politics and economics.

What institutional design can best control inflation? Alberto showed that independent central banks were the best way to control the political temptation to inflate.