Elizabeth E. Bailey, 1938-2022

Elizabeth Bailey, who joined the NBER board of directors in 1993, served as vice-chair of the board in 2002–05 and as chair in 2005–08, and became an emeritus member in 2020, passed away August 19 after a long battle with Parkinson’s disease. She was 83.

An expert on regulatory economics and industrial organization, Bailey was a pioneer on many dimensions. After graduating from Radcliffe College, she worked as a technical programmer at Bell Laboratories for more than a decade. She was attracted to economics, and earned a master’s degree in economics from the Stevens Institute of Technology followed by a PhD from Princeton University, where she was the first woman doctoral graduate in economics. She subsequently joined, and led, Bell Labs’ Economic Research Department.