Richard Jay Zeckhauser (born 1940) is an American economist and the Frank P. Ramsey Professor of Political Economy at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. He holds a BA (summa cum laude) and a PhD in economics from Harvard University. Early in his career, he was one of the "whiz kids" assembled by Defense Secretary Robert S. McNamara to apply cutting-edge analysis to Cold War military strategy. He is married to Sally H. Zeckhauser.