John Roberts, influential Canadian-American economist, has passed away

John Roberts (1945–2026) was a prominent Canadian-American economist, known for his contributions to public economics, incentive theory, games of incomplete information, industrial organisation, and the theory of complementarities and comparative statics. Born in Winnipeg, Canada, he earned his PhD in economics from the University of Minnesota in 1972.

He began his academic career at the Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, and in 1980 joined the Stanford Graduate School of Business, where he spent the remainder of his career. His applied work focused on organisation and management, culminating in the influential book Economics, Organisation and Management (1992) co-authored with Paul Milgrom.

During his time at Northwestern, he was a long-term visitor at CORE (1975–1976) and contributed to research on general equilibrium theory, public goods, and incentive problems, collaborating with scholars such as H. Sonnenschein, P. Champsaur, R.W. Rosenthal, and J. Ledyard. His work on involuntary unemployment (AER 1987) closely complemented that of Jacques Drèze.

John Roberts leaves behind a rich intellectual legacy, influencing generations of economists across theory and applied management.