Professor Emeritus Pashigian dies at 68

B. Peter Pashigian, Professor Emeritus of Economics in the Graduate School of Business, died Wednesday, Oct. 18, at his Hyde Park home. He was 68.

A member of the University faculty since 1961, Pashigian conducted research on pricing and shopping practices, including the effects of fashion on the pricing of men and women’s clothing.

He also studied the response of retail stores to the rising inequality in the cost of consumers’ time, the pricing of space and organization of shopping malls, changes in the retail pricing of new automobiles, and most recently, suggested changes to the composition of the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ used car price index.

Pashigian wrote numerous books and articles, including Price Theory and Applications, “Internalizing Externalities: The Pricing Space in Shopping Malls” in the Journal of Law and Economics, and “Why Are Some Products Sold on Sale? Explanations of Pricing Regularities” in the Quarterly Journal of Economics.

He also was co-editor of the Journal of Business, and served on the executive committee of the GSB’s George J. Stigler Center for the Study of the Economy and the State.

“Peter’s many accomplishments during his 39 years on the faculty clearly show that he took his teaching and research very seriously,” said Robert Hamada, Dean of the GSB and the Edward Eagle Brown Distinguished Service Professor of Finance. “He also was a good friend and supporter of the GSB and the University.”

The author of a pioneering study in the 1980s on the politics of pollution regulation, “The Political Economy of the Clean Air Act: Regional Self-Interest in Environmental Regulation,” Pashigian brought attention to the impact self-interest groups have on the development of environmental regulation.

“He was a constant bedrock in this area of industrial organizations,” said Sam Peltzman, the Sears Roebuck Professor of Economics and Financial Services in the GSB.

“Both of us have tried to keep it on the track of being applied to the world and not just develop theories.”

Born in Detroit, Mich., on June 12, 1932, Pashigian earned an A.B. in economics from Wayne State University in 1954, and a Ph.D. in economics from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1960.

Early in his career, he was a senior research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research and a research fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University.

In addition to his wife, Rose, Pashigian is survived by two children, Melissa Pashigian of Los Angeles and Peter Pashigian of New York, and a sister, Ardem Antonian of Monterey Park, Calif.

A memorial service will be held at a later date.