A Celebration of the Life of Michelle White

Michelle White was born in Washington, D.C. and grew up in Bethesda, MD.  She graduated from Radcliffe in 1967, earned an M.Sc. degree from LSE in 1968 and a Ph.D. from Princeton University in 1973.  She then became an assistant professor of economics at the University of Pennsylvania from 1973 to 1978, an assistant and then an associate professor of economics at the Stern School at NYU from 1978 to 1983, a professor of economics at the University of Michigan from 1984 to 2001, and a professor of economics and then a research professor at UCSD since 2001. She was renowned for her research on bankruptcy law and urban economics.

White was a true pioneer for women in the economics profession. Breaking boundaries for women in economics began early in White’s career. Prior to pursuing graduate education, she was a member of the Harvard Advisory Group advising the Pakistani government, in the process becoming the only woman in the entire Pakistani government. She was only the second woman to earn a Ph.D. in economics from Princeton.  In her starting faculty position at the University of Pennsylvania, she was the first female tenure-track faculty member in the history of their economics department, a department at the point with 50 faculty members. In subsequent faculty positions at New York University and the University of Michigan, she served as a dedicated mentor to young female members of each department. White was also a role model for a larger group of female economists through the American Economic Association’s Committee on the Status of Women in the Economics Profession. She hoped that her efforts contributed to the growing representation of women in the discipline.

As a scholar, White made an indelible mark on the field of law and economics, especially with her groundbreaking work to understand the incentives created by bankruptcy law and how these incentives influence debtor and creditor behavior, credit markets and economic efficiency. White also contributed on many different topics in urban and public economics, from whether California's Proposition 13 causes homeowners´ mobility to decline, to whether heavier SUVs and pickup trucks reduce traffic safety. 

She served on numerous editorial and advisory boards, including for the American Law and Economics Review, and she was a founding board member and later served as the president of the American Law and Economics Association. She also became a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research in 2002.

White taught in the Ford-Foundation-sponsored Training Program at People’s University in Beijing in 1986, was a Fulbright Scholar at Warsaw University in 1990, and taught at the New School of Economics in Moscow in 1998. She was also a visiting scholar at a range of universities from Tel Aviv and Munich to Copenhagen and Uppsala.

White also traveled the world for leisure with her husband and colleague Roger Gordon, a fellow faculty member in the Department of Economics. They enjoyed hiking and going to the theater and opera together – and together built a thriving research group in applied economics at UC San Diego. Their generosity in mentoring young scholars, hosting visitors, and contributing to seminars left a lasting impact on the department.

White is remembered for her kindness to mentees. When meeting with her, a young scholar might get not only great advice, but also a meal and a brisk walk. White will be especially missed in our seminars and on our hiking trails, which she graced with intelligence, humor and a spirit of adventure.

She is survived by her husband, Roger, her sister, Margo, and brother-in-law, Roy, and a large extended family.