John Barkley Rosser Jr. (April 12, 1948 - January 10, 2023) was a mathematical economist and Professor of Economics at

James Madison University James Madison University (JMU, Madison, or James Madison) is a public research university in Harrisonburg, Virginia. Founded in 1908 as the State Normal and Industrial School for Women at Harrisonburg, the institution was renamed Madison Coll ...

in Harrisonburg, Virginia since 1988. He was known for work in nonlinear economic dynamics, including applications in economics of catastrophe theory, chaos theory, and complexity theory (complex dynamics,

complexity economics Complexity economics is the application of complexity science to the problems of economics. It sees the economy not as a system in equilibrium, but as one in motion, perpetually constructing itself anew.Beinhocker, Eric D. The Origin of Wealth: E ...

). With Marina V. Rosser he invented the concept of the "new traditional economy". He introduced into economic discourse the concepts of

chaotic bubble Chaotic bubbles within physics and mathematics, occur in cases when there are any dynamic processes that generate bubbles that are nonlinear. Many exhibit mathematically chaotic patterns consistent with chaos theory. In most systems, they arise ou ...

chaotic hysteresis A nonlinear dynamical system exhibits chaotic hysteresis if it simultaneously exhibits chaotic dynamics ( chaos theory) and hysteresis. As the latter involves the persistence of a state, such as magnetization, after the causal or exogenous force o ...

(op. cit., p. 326), and econochemistry. He also invented the concepts of the megacorpstate and hypercyclic morphogenesis. He was the first to provide a mathematical model of the period of financial distress in a speculative bubble. With Marina V. Rosser and Ehsan Ahmed, he was the first to argue for a two-way positive link between income inequality (

economic inequality There are wide varieties of economic inequality, most notably income inequality measured using the distribution of income (the amount of money people are paid) and wealth inequality measured using the distribution of wealth (the amount of ...

) and the size of an

underground economy A black market, underground economy, or shadow economy is a clandestine market or series of transactions that has some aspect of illegality or is characterized by noncompliance with an institutional set of rules. If the rule defines the ...

in a nation. Rosser's equation has been used to forecast ratios of future Social Security benefits to current ones in real terms.Rosser, J. Barkley Jr., 2005. “Student ignorance about Social Security,” available at http://cob.jmu.edu/rosserjb

Background and personal life

Born in Ithaca, New York, Rosser received a BA in economics with a minor in mathematics in 1969, an MA in economics in 1972, and a Ph.D. in economics in 1976, studying with Eugene Smolensky, all from the

University of Wisconsin–Madison A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United Stat ...

. On August 15, 1984 he became legally engaged to the former Marina Rostislavovna Vcherashnaya in Moscow, USSR, officially set to be married at 3 PM, November 13, 1984. After he returned to the United States, she was forced to resign from her position as Senior Researcher in the Institute of World Economy and International Relations (IMEMO). He was not granted a visa to return to Moscow to marry her, making them into a blocked marriage case. This violated the

Helsinki Accords The Helsinki Final Act, also known as Helsinki Accords or Helsinki Declaration was the document signed at the closing meeting of the third phase of the Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe (CSCE) held in Helsinki, Finland, between ...

, signed by the Soviet Union in 1975. After diplomatic efforts, linked to the emerging perestroika program of Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, their case was resolved when Marina was allowed to travel to the United States on April 4, 1987. This was the first resolution of such a case in the Soviet Union, and became a precedent helping to establish in international law more generally the right of people to marry freely whom they choose across national boundaries. They married on May 24, 1987, and she is now Professor of Economics at James Madison University also. His father was the late J. Barkley Rosser Sr. (1907–1989), a prominent mathematician.

Career

Rosser joined the economics department at

in Harrisonburg, Virginia in 1977, where he has been Professor of Economics since 1988 and Kirby L. Cramer Jr. Professor Business Administration since 1996. He has published several books and over 200 journal articles, book chapters, and book reviews in a wide variety of sub-fields of economics (see External Link for recent papers and complete cv). He served as Editor of the ''

Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization The ''Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization'' is an academic journal published by Elsevier. It was started in 1980 by North-Holland, later merged into Elsevier. It publishes research on economic decision and behaviour influence organizati ...

'' from 2001–2010. In 2012 he became Founding Editor-in-Chief of the ''Review of Behavioral Economics''. As of 2018, he is also Coeditor of ''New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics'', 4th edition. In 2009, Rosser was named a Fellow of Economists for Peace and Security. In 2010 he received a festschrift, Nonlinear Dynamics in Economics, Finance, and the Social Sciences: Essays in Honour of John Barkley Rosser Jr., edited by Gian-Italo Bischi, Carl Chiarella, and

Laura Gardini Laura Gardini (born 1952) is an Italian mathematician who studies Chaos theory, chaos in dynamical systems, with applications in mathematical finance. She is professor in mathematics for economic applications at the University of Urbino. Educati ...

, Berlin Heidelberg: Springer. In 2011, he received an Outstanding Faculty Award from the State Council on Higher Education in Virginia. In 2012 he was named Ambassador of the University of Urbino, Italy. Since 2007 he has blogged at Econospeak, http://econospeak.blogspot.com. In 2019, Rosser was elected President of the Society for Chaos Theory in Psychology and Life Sciences.

References

External links

John Barkley Rosser Jr.'s Home Page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rosser, J. Barkley Jr. 1948 births Living people 21st-century American economists University of Wisconsin–Madison College of Letters and Science alumni James Madison University faculty