Remembering Patrick L. Bajari (1969-2025)

Pat Bajari, a major figure in the economics profession who was deeply connected to Minnesota Economics, tragically passed away on Monday at age 55 after a battle with cancer. Our heartfelt condolences go out to his family.

Pat was born and raised in Minnesota. He completed both his undergraduate and graduate studies at the University of Minnesota, earning BS degrees in Economics and Mathematics in 1992 and his PhD in Economics in 1997. His academic career included faculty positions at Harvard, Stanford, Duke, and Michigan before he returned in 2006 to join the Minnesota faculty. In 2010, he went on leave to become Chief Economist at Amazon, eventually making the move permanent. In Pat’s words, “...when I saw the data wave blowing up in tech, I knew I had to stay and be a part of it. I gave up tenure and dove all in.” He played a transformational role in leading the emergence of tech-economics in industry—one of the major developments in economics in recent years. In 2023, he became Chief Economist at Keystone.

Pat’s contributions to academic economics will be long-lasting—not only through his major body of work in industrial organization, but also through the students he mentored, many of whom have become leaders in the field themselves. Pat asked a lot of his students, and he gave a lot in return.

With his move to Amazon, Pat helped transform the business of e-commerce, combining economics and data analysis to guide business decision-making. His 2023 interview, published after he joined Keystone, is recommended reading because it distills what Pat was creating and captures the excitement he had doing it, including his comment: “Amazon was like a candy store of data-driven tech problems to work on.” In terms of results, the title of a 2019 CNN article says a lot: “Amazon gets an edge with its secret squad of PhD economists.” The article goes on to explain how Pat built an economics group from scratch, with over 150 PhDs at the time of the article.  Later the number would increase to over 400. Other companies soon emulated Amazon, including Uber and even Walmart. This development became known as tech-economics, and the sector now accounts for a significant share of PhD job placements.

We are grateful that even after moving to Amazon, Pat remained closely connected to Minnesota Economics. He held the position of research fellow and returned regularly to speak with both undergraduate and graduate students. As a graduate of both programs, he was steadfast in his loyalty to both.

At the end of the 2023 interview mentioned above, Pat was asked, “Do you have anything to add?” He offered two reflections that serve as a fitting coda.

The first was about the importance of integrating across fields in business: “A diverse team often created better solutions.” We can’t help but note that this was also one of the hallmarks of his academic success.

For the second, we quote Pat verbatim: “I also try to keep myself humble (although I fail occasionally). I’m from Minnesota. I was taught to keep your head down, work hard, be sincere, and good things can happen with perseverance.” With all due respect to Pat’s Minnesota modesty, we can safely say he put his head down, worked hard, and achieved extraordinary things.