Richard A. Easterlin is university professor emeritus of economics, University of Southern California. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, past president of the Population Association of America and the Economic History Association, a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Econometric Society, and a former Guggenheim Fellow. His writings include Growth Triumphant: The 21st Century in Historical Perspective (1996), Birth and Fortune: The Impact of Numbers on Personal Welfare (1980; 2nd ed. 1987), and Population, Labor Force, and Long Swings in Economic Growth: the American Experience (1968).

He joined IZA as Research Fellow in November 1999.

Richard was awarded the 2009 IZA Prize in Labor Economics for his outstanding research on the analysis of subjective well-being and on the relationship between demographic developments and economic outcomes.