Robert Topel, “the last Mohican,” on immigration, the cure for cancer, and the Friedman/Stigler era

Robert Topel, the Isidore Brown and Gladys J. Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus of Economics at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, joins Orley Ashenfelter in a conversation about his wide-ranging research, from labor to health and finally energy economics.

In this episode, Topel and Ashenfelter discuss:

• How Topel went from a “ne'er do well” high schooler in Southern California to a Ph.D. student at UCLA.
• His start as an assistant professor of economics at the University of Chicago among giants such as Bob Lucas, Gary Becker, Sherwin Rosen, George Stigler, Jim Heckman, José Scheinkman, and Al Harberger.
• Topel’s work on immigration and his stance on the economics of immigration.
• How Topel became a health economist and his valuation of the cure for cancer.
• Topel’s experience starting the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago.
• The culture of the University of Chicago’s economics department during its heyday and how it has changed over the course of his career.

Topel earned his undergraduate degree in economics from the University of California, Santa Barbara, in 1974 and a Ph.D. in economics from UCLA in 1980. In addition to his academic work, Topel is a renowned microeconomics scholar and is often sought as a testifying expert in cases involving antitrust, pricing, intellectual property, and employment matters. "The Work Goes On"—a podcast produced by Princeton's Industrial Relations Section (IR Section)—is an oral history of industrial relations and labor economics hosted by Princeton's Orley Ashenfelter.