It is with deep sadness that we mark the passing on April 3, 2019, of one of our Duke economics graduate students, Gabriel Oliva Costa Cunha.
Gabriel joined the Center for the History of Political Economy as a Fellow during the fall 2015 semester while still working on his master’s degree in economics at the University of São Paulo. While at the Center he investigated the influence of cybernetics on the development of F. A. Hayek’s thought. It was during his fellowship that he wrote “The Road to Servomechanisms: The Influence of Cybernetics on Hayek from the Sensory Order to the Social Order.” The paper was published in Research in the History of Economic Thought and Methodology in 2016 and was awarded the Warren Samuels Prize for the best article.
Gabriel was admitted to the Duke PhD program in economics and began taking courses in fall 2016. He was already a fine economist and a noteworthy contributor to the history of economics community here at Duke and beyond. His insights and his gentle spirit will be greatly missed.