Dear Colleagues

It is with great sadness that I report that Jacob Mincer died on Sunday August 20.  With the passing of Jacob Mincer, labor economics has lost a giant of the field who made fundamental contributions to the development of our analyses of human capital, earnings functions, labor supply and time allocation.  An appreciation of his contributions was published in the introduction to a JOLE special issue that honored him in 1993, see http://client.norc.org/jole/SOLEweb/MincerIntro.pdf.
 
Jacob Mincer was co-winner, with Gary Becker, of the first lifetime achievement award presented by the Society of Labor Economics in 2004.  Henceforth, the award has been known as the Jacob Mincer Award.

Members may address their condolences to

Flora Mincer
448 Riverside Drive Apt. 72
New York NY 10027
USA
 
Francine Blau
President of the Society of Labor Economics
 
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Who is Jacob Mincer?

He is the one who first formulated the relationship between human capital and earnings. He is the one who estimated "returns to education" for the first time. His method has been replicated, modified, and applied by hundreds, if not thousands, of researchers. His method is still in use ("Mincerian earnings equation").

“The close blending of theory and data represented in Mincer’s work has shaped the direction of labor economics and influenced and inspired all those who have followed him.” (Professor David Card, UC Berkeley)

For more information about him, see The New York Times article ("Jacob Mincer, 84, Pioneer on Labor Economics, Dies").