Friends and Role Models

Moshe Safdie is a master builder, a world leading architect who aims to address people’s social problems by designing buildings. I first met Moshe Safdie when we were recipients of the Wolf Prize. Safdie radiated the quiet authority of someone whose work speaks for itself, yet he was generous with his time and insights. He

Richard was arguably the leading Ag economist in the world in last quarter of the 20th to  early 21st century until his retirement. He was my dissertation advisor, and a life-long friend and collaborator. On July 30th, 2025, several of his students and colleagues assembled with Richard and his family to celebrate his career. It was an emotional

As the world is preparing for a big environmental summit in Copenhagen, knowing that an agreement is very unlikely, it’s become apparent how difficult it is to reach an environmental agreement that can stick and change the course of history. People that can bring about such agreement are really rare, and last week we lost

Uri Regev, a teacher and friend of mine, passed away on April 22 in Israel at the age of 80. Uri grew up in Kibbutz Yagur in Israel, studied economics at Hebrew University and came to Berkeley, where he got his Ph.D. in agricultural economics in 1968. He spent most of his career at Ben Gurion

Recently I learned one of my dear colleagues, Bob Evenson from Yale University, passed away. Bob grew up on a farm in the Minnesota and got his PhD at the University of Chicago. He became a leading development economist, and taught for more than 30 years mostly at Yale. My early impressions, as a student

On July 1st we held a celebration on the steps of Giannini Hall as Angie Erickson retired after 33 years of service in the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics (ARE) and seven years as my Assistant (I actually favor the old fashion term Secretary because it implies the keeper of secrets, or confidant). Retirements

When I was an undergraduate student in Israel, I remember asking one of my professors, ‘Who is the greatest economist in the world today: Samuelson or Friedman?’ His answer surprised me: Arrow. I was embarrassed not to know him, and asked “Who?!” My professor replied, “If you go to graduate school, you’ll learn about him.”

I was very sorry to learn that Irma Adelman passed away February 24, 2017. A brilliant woman whose life story and achievements were truly awe-inspiring, Irma lived through some of the most important events of the 20th century and her research tools and ideas have impacted the lives of countless people. We were privileged to