Harvard Kennedy School Remembers John R. Meyer

The Harvard Kennedy School family mourns the loss of John R. Meyer, the James W. Harpel Professor of Capital Formation Emeritus, who died October 20.

Meyer’s legacy as both an accomplished academic and a pioneer in transportation policy is reflected in the lasting impact he had upon his students and colleagues and by the profound influence his work exerted over the industries he researched. He is considered a significant force in the deregulation of the airline and railroad industries in the 1970s and 1980s.

“John Meyer’s research transformed the study of transportation and regulatory policy and economics by blending a deep understanding of institutions, legal constraints and history with the application of modern microeconomic and econometric techniques,” said Kennedy School Dean David T. Ellwood.

Meyer joined the Kennedy School faculty in 1983 after tenures as a professor at Harvard’s Department of Economics (1955-68), Yale’s Department of Economics (1968-73) and the Harvard Business School (1973-83) and as the president of the National Bureau of Economic Research (1967-77). His career included service as vice chairman and board member of Union Pacific Railroad, and as advisor to the U.S. Department of Transportation, the World Bank, and several other institutions.

As an academic, Meyer was greatly respected.

“John Meyer produced a prodigious body of scholarship, starting with the seminal books on intercity and urban transportation and continuing for nearly the next four years to cover virtually every major development in transportation policy,” wrote Jose Gomez-Ibanez, Derek C. Bok professor of urban planning and public policy. “This accomplishment is even more impressive in that he also continued to contribute to other fields, such as urban and regional economics, telecommunications policy, and corporate governance.”

Meyer is considered one of the forefathers of Harvard Kennedy School’s Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government, and one of the architects of the teaching of capital markets, finance and regulation to Kennedy School students.

Although he retired from teaching at the Kennedy School in 1996, Meyer remained active in research and professional activities. At the time of his death, he was completing a manuscript on the economic and political forces that shaped the regulation of the American railroad industry in the 20th century.