Leonard Rapping

About Leonard Rapping

Leonard Alan Rapping (April 16, 1934 – October 1, 1991) was an American economist, who advised several Federal agencies. He also helped develop theories on the interplay of human behavior and business cycles. He was most famous for his work with Robert E. Lucas which laid the foundations for real business cycle theory, which holds that the financial expectations of business executives and consumers help mold their decisions, therefore influencing economic outcomes. That theory helped analyze the 1970s phenomenon of "stagflation", in which prices rose despite economic stagnation and recession. At the time of his death, Rapping was completing a book for the 20th Century Fund, called The Wage Crunch, on the social and economic effects of the slowdown in American wages in recent years.