Robert E. Lucas papers, 1960-2004 and undated

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Summary

Creator:
Lucas, Robert E.
Abstract:
Robert E. Lucas (1937-2023) was a Nobel Prize winner and the John Dewey Distinguished Service Professor at the University of Chicago. This collection primarily documents his professional life through his correspondence, professional and faculty activities, and research. It forms part of the Economists' Papers Archive.
Extent:
27 Linear Feet (47 boxes and one oversize folder.)
96 Megabytes (One set.)
Language:
Material in English.
Collection ID:
RL.00826

Background

Scope and content:

This collection represents the professional work and career of Lucas during his appointments at the Graduate School of Industrial Administration at Canegie-Mellon University and the Department of Economics at the University of Chicago. It is arranged into four series: Correspondence, Professional Service, Research, and Teaching.

Lucas is best known for for having developed and applied the hypothesis of rational expectations, and thereby having transformed macroeconomic analysis and deepened the understanding of economic policy. His work in these and other areas is profiled in the Research series, the most substantial of the collection. These files contain notes, correspondence, drafts, clippings, reports, and other material related to topics such as business cycles, monetary theory, rational expectations, economic growth, supply side economics, and unemployment.

The Correspondence series contains exchanges with economists and colleagues such as Lucas' collaborators Edward C. Prescott and Thomas Sargent, as well as James Tobin, Neil Wallace, Karl Brunner, David Cass, Edmund S. Phelps, Robert J. Gordon, Robert J. Barro, Leonard A. Rapping, and John B. Taylor. These letters amplify the records in the research files on Lucas' career and research, as well as topics and debates in economics in the 20th century.

In addition to documenting Lucas' work in theoretical economics, the collection also follows his professional activities through files in the Professional Service series. Items relate to his participation on various committees, his editorial and presidential commitments, and his work with institutions such as the American Economic Association (AEA), the National Science Foundation (NSF), and the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER).

Finally, the Teaching series contains administrative files and course material, such as notes, transparencies, and exam subjects related to Lucas' academic departmental service and teaching career.

Biographical / historical:

Robert Emerson Lucas, Jr. (1937-2023) was a white American academic economist who was born on 15 September 1937 in Yakima, Washington. He received a BA in history in 1959 and PhD in economics in 1964, both from the University of Chicago. He taught at the Graduate School of Industrial Administration at Carnegie-Mellon University from 1963-1975, at which point he returned to the University of Chicago, where he was named the John Dewey Distinguished Service Professor in 1980. In 1995, he received the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for his work on macroeconomics. He died in Chicago on 15 May 2023.

Acquisition information:
The Robert E. Lucas papers were received by the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library as gifts in 2004 and 2014.
Processing information:

Processed by Danilo Silva and Chris Payne, August 2010; Hyeeyoung Kim, September 2017.

Encoded by Paula Jeannet, Chris Payne, and Danilo Silva, August 2010.

Electronic records processed by Zachary Tumlin, June 2023.

Accessions described in this collection guide: 2005-0063 and 2014-0123.

Arrangement:

The Robert E. Lucas papers are arranged into five series: Correspondence, Professional Service, Research, Teaching, and Oversize Material.

Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Contents

Using These Materials

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Using These Materials

Restrictions:

Access note. Some materials are electronic records that require special equipment. Contact Research Services with questions.

Terms of access:

The copyright interests in this collection have not been transferred to Duke University. For more information, consult the Rubenstein Library's Citations, Permissions, and Copyright guide.

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Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Robert E. Lucas papers, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Duke University.

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