The UCLA Department of Economics is sad to announce that Axel Leijonhufvud (1933-2022) passed away on May 2nd 2022.

Axel was born in Stockholm, Sweden, and obtained his bachelor degree at the University of Lund. After coming to the United States in 1960, he earned an M.A. from the University of Pittsburgh and his Ph.D. from Northwestern University. He came to the University of California at Los Angeles in 1964 and was named Full Professor in 1971. He served as Chairman of the Economics Department, most recently in 1990-1992. In 1991, he started the Center for Computable Economics at UCLA and remained its Director until 1997. Leijonhufvud was awarded an honoris causa doctoral degree by the University of Lund in 1983 and by the University Nice – Sophia Antipolis in 1996. In 1995 he was appointed Professor of Monetary Theory and Policy at the University of Trento, Italy, serving until 2008. Since 2000 he has organized annual Ph.D level Summer Schools in Adaptive Economic Dynamics.

Axel will be missed by the UCLA community. Our thoughts are with his family and friends.

Roger Farmer, a former chair of the department, shares his memory here.

David K. Levine, a former faculty member of the department, shares his memory here.

Guido Tabellini, a former faculty member of the department, shares his memory here.

Axel’s obituary, published in the Los Angeles Times, can be found here.