Robert A. Becker, Professor
Ph.D., University of Rochester, 1978

Capital Theory, Mathematical Economics

Professor Becker's primary research and teaching interests are in the fields of capital theory, general equilibrium analysis, and game theory.  His current research examines the dynamics of the Nash map, which originally arose in the study of n-person games.  Most of his research has focused on the relationship between optimal growth paths and dynamic equilibrium programs, as well as on the dynamics of capital accumulation programs with heterogeneous agents and incomplete markets. He has been engaged in a study of the foundations of recursive utility functions that serve as the objective of agents in a variety of dynamic models.  This research is presented in his monograph Capital Theory, Equilibrium Analysis, and Recursive Utility (co-authored with John H. Boyd, III) published by Basil Blackwell Publishers in 1997.  He has published articles on questions arising in dynamic competitive models in journals including the Quarterly Journal of Economics, Journal of Economic Theory, Economic Theory, Journal of Mathematical Economics, and Econometrica.  Professor Becker is also the co-editor with Professor Edwin Burmeister of Growth Theory, Edward Elgar, 1990.  This is a three volume collection of reprinted articles on descriptive, optimal and equilibrium growth theories.  Professor Becker is also serving as an Associate Editor of The International Journal of Economic Theory, and Studies in Nonlinear Dynamics and Econometrics.  Professor Becker was Executive Associate Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences (2006-2011).

Home Page: http://mypage.iu.edu/~becker/

Curriculum Vitæ

Books