Rudi Bachmann
@bachmannrudi.bsky.social
Economist (Professor at the University of Michigan), Literal Transatlanticist, Posts about Economics, Politics, Policy and Academia
Economics
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Business
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Today was the 2nd time a German physician asked me what I think of Hillbilly Elegy and cause it made him kinda admire J.D. Vance and it just fortifies my believe that STEM people should take basic humanities classes
This 👇
Reposted by Rüdiger Bachmann
Today was the 2nd time a German physician asked me what I think of Hillbilly Elegy and cause it made him kinda admire J.D. Vance and it just fortifies my believe that STEM people should take basic humanities classes
I wish all of good will out there a Merry Christmas. May the child in the manger move your hearts and bring you peace and bring you to make peace.
Ich wünsche allen guten Willens da draußen ein Frohes Weihnachtsfest. Möge das Kind in der Krippe Eure Herzen berühren und Euch Frieden und zum Frieden machen bringen.
Reposted by Georg Weizsäcker, Rüdiger Bachmann
while he was known for broad and deep work on many topics, i, along with other behavioral economists, am especially thankful for "Psychological Expected Utility Theory and Anticipatory Feelings" www.jstor.org/stable/2696443 let me also mention a nice short method piece www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=...
PS: I also want to add that John was a big believer in the US Public University system, including its research excellence, its dedication to teaching and the athletic parts. He LOVED college sports. After the elite private universities Harvard, BU and NYU he enjoyed UM greatly!
RIP, John. I will miss you. 🖤
And now John was to embark on a new path of his career as the incoming research director at the @chicagofed.bsky.social . I know that he was so eager to go, to be able to advice policy with all his academic insights. The FED system will be worse off without him.
grad students in the Tobin Lounge and I distinctly remember his advice: "Don't read papers so much. Produce ideas. In fact, as graduate students you should produce one research idea a day!" I have given this same advice in every third-year paper seminar I appeared.
But John was also boisterous, funny, cheerful, willing to talk to everyone who wanted to talk Economics.
I first met him at @yaleeconomics.bsky.social when I was still a graduate student. He was visiting for a few days (I think). At some moment he was talking to me and a bunch of other
I first met him at @yaleeconomics.bsky.social when I was still a graduate student. He was visiting for a few days (I think). At some moment he was talking to me and a bunch of other
John Leahy - CV
John V. Leahy
Address
University of Michigan ...
sites.google.com
Anyone who looks at John's CV can only be in awe about his prolific writing and his accomplishments in the profession. He truly had a beautiful mind. A sharp mind. A great theoretician, but always interested in applied and relevant questions.
sites.google.com/umich.edu/jo...
sites.google.com/umich.edu/jo...
This has become by now a classical result which has been shown over and over again (I have a paper on it), but John and Toni were amongst the first. I and many others in this literature are standing on the shoulders of these two giants.
www.jstor.org
economic activity (at the firm-level). This disproved older theories, like the Oi-Abel-Hartmann effect, for the relationship and pointed theoretically to indivisibilities and irreversibilities as the relevant capital adjustment frictions.
www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/2...
www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/2...
Economic uncertainty was a general theme for John. This paper about "The Effect of Uncertainty on Investment: Some Stylized Facts" with our now colleague @toniwhited.bsky.social is one of the earliest empirical papers to show that higher economic uncertainty tends to be associated with lower
www.jstor.org
away with adverse selection present. The intuition: If more variance leads to more cars being sold, the lemons problem is mitigated, as better and better cars enter the pool of cars on offer. This itself would shrink the sS bands of inaction.
www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/1...
www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/1...
In another insightful paper on "An sS Model with Adverse Selection" with his student and now colleague Chris House, they show that the usual sS effect (except for special cases) of more shock variance leading to widening of sS bands and more frequent adjustment, can go
www.jstor.org
This paper on "Aggregation and Optimization with State-Dependent Pricing" takes this partial equilibrium model further and includes aggregate feedbacks on the micro decisions.
www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/2...
www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/2...
It contains the famous elevator model. The model produces a highly nonlinear and state-dependent relationship between monetary policy, inflation and output. In middle ranges, monetary policy is powerful, but in periods of low output or high output, money can be nearly neutral.
www.jstor.org
This paper on "State-Dependent Pricing and the Dynamics of Money and Output" is an early breakthrough in this literature:
www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/2...
www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/2...
John's early contributions (like so many of them joint with Andrew Caplin) were about the macroeconomic implications of microeconomic adjustment frictions. How does infrequent microeconomic adjustment behavior aggregate? How does it matter for macroeconomic policy?
Alex Imas on X: "@BachmannRudi May his memory be a blessing, Rudi. He wrote one of the papers that was most inspirational for me in grad school, taking psychology seriously in economic theory. https://t.co/Phw7W5ANxB" / X
@BachmannRudi May his memory be a blessing, Rudi. He wrote one of the papers that was most inspirational for me in grad school, taking psychology seriously in economic theory. https://t.co/Phw7W5ANxB
x.com
The two strands of his research I know most about are 1) sS adjustment models and 2) uncertainty and economic outcomes. Others may comment on his later work in behavioral economics and economic psychology:
x.com/alexolegimas...
x.com/alexolegimas...
It is with a heavy heart that I tell that the Michigan Econ community learned yesterday about the death of our chair John Leahy. He was such a bright economist and cheerful human being. I personally owe him a lot. RIP, John, the world today is darker without you. 🖤
Let me tell you a bit about John's work (the part that is most closely related to my own research), because it is the way I can best memorialize him, and I think he would want to be memorialized by his peers.
It is with a heavy heart that I tell that the Michigan Econ community learned yesterday about the death of our chair John Leahy. He was such a bright economist and cheerful human being. I personally owe him a lot. RIP, John, the world today is darker without you. 🖤
I just disproved all of Economics: I just found a five dollar bill on the street.
Wer versteht die neue Weltunordnung?
Podcast Episode · Sternstunde Philosophie · 12/20/2025 · 1h
podcasts.apple.com
Großartig. Sternstunden der Philosophie mit Karl Schlögel. Was für ein kluger Kopf! Hörempfehlung.
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/s...
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/s...
Ja, aber was lernen wir daraus? Wir lernen, dass 3 sehr “unangenehme” Staatsformen (um es mal milde auszudrücken) keine Steuerstaaten waren. So what? Das ist doch so ähnlich trivial wie, dass es andere Staatsformen als liberale Demokratien gibt. Aber wer will die?
Also - was wäre das out of the box Denken für heutige demokratische Sozialstaaten, die keine Bodenschätze haben und ausbeuterische Kolonialkriege ablehnen?
Danke!
Das Gespräch mit Tilo war übrigens besser!
Danke!
Das Gespräch mit Tilo war übrigens besser!
Sie sagen immer, dass der Steuerstaat historisch so kurz ist, aber das liegt eben trivialerweise daran, dass das, was er finanzieren soll, einen demokratischen Sozialstaat, historisch jung ist.
Verkauf von Bodenschätzen. Historisch kommt sicherlich Kriegsbeute hinzu. Soweit so gut: aber welche REALISTISCHEN Alternativen haben denn HEUTE Staaten, die keine oder wenig Bodenschätze haben? Und den Sozialstaat nicht aufgeben wollen.