Richard Eckaus is the Ford Foundation Professor of International Economics Emeritus. He received the Ph.D. from the Department of Economics at MIT in 1954, after previously receiving the B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Iowa State University in 1946 and the M.S. in Economics from Washington University, St. Louis, Mo., in 1948. He taught at Washington University, Michigan State University and Brandeis University before joining the Department of Economics, MIT in 1962, where he became the Head of the Department from 1986 to 1990.
He has published many research and policy papers on a wide range of problems of developing countries and has been a consultant to international development agencies and government economic agencies in countries in South America, the Caribbean, Europe, North Africa, the Arabian Peninsula and Asia. He is the recipient from the Portuguese government of the Great Cross of the Order of Prince Henry the Navigator. He has also studied and published research and policy papers on economic issues related to global warming.