James P. Quirk

James Patrick Quirk (November 27, 1926 – June 4, 2020) was a Caltech professor of economics.

Quirk attended Marquette University in 1944-1945 towards a degree in civil engineering, he changed to economics 1946 while attending University of Minnesota going on to obtain a BBA in (economics) in 1948, a MA (economics) 1949 and a Ph.D. (economics)in 1959 from University of Minnesota.

Between 1944 and 1946 he served in the U.S. Navy.

He taught at St. Mary’s University, San Antonio, Texas (1949–1951), then worked as an economist for the US government (Bureau of the Census, Washington, D.C., 1951–52, U. S. Dept. of Commerce 1952–53. After working as an economist for Pillsbury Co. and for Northwestern Bell, both in Minneapolis, he taught at Purdue University 1958–1965. In 1966 he became professor of economics at the University of Kansas. Between 1971 and 1987 he was professor of economics at Caltech, in addition to being a visiting professor at the University of Wyoming, Montana State University and University of Mississippi. He continued to teach part-time after retirement, and was a consultant, at various times to the California Hospital Association, the World Hockey Association, the Alan Cranston senatorial campaign, the U. S. Department of Justice, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and others.

The Review of Economic Studies 29.2 (1962): 140-146., has received 529 citations.

He also had a love for jazz and played the cornet with several different jazz bands, Cornet player with Salty Dogs Jazz Band, "On the River", CUCA Records, 1967 and leader and cornet player, Dungeness Traditional Jazz Band, Sequim, Washington, 2002–2013.

He was the author of several books:

He is the author of several papers:

According to Google Scholar, his most cited article, JP Quirk, R Saposnik "Admissibility and measurable utility functions"