A retired University of Rochester economics professor, best known for his role in ending the military draft in the 1970s, has died at the age of 84. Walter Oi died in his sleep at the Friendly Home in Brighton.
He was an authority on applied economic theory and labor markets, and served on the President's Commission on an All-Volunteer Armed Force.
A statement from the U of R says that Oi's analysis of the unseen costs of military conscription played an important role in convincing President Richard Nixon and Congress to end the military draft.
During World War II, Oi spent three years in internment camps for Japanese-Americans in California and in Colorado.
