Edward Prescott
The name Edward Prescott may not be familiar to most people, but in economics, it is known as one of the most influential figures in the field. Edward Prescott is an American economist and a 2004 Nobel Prize winner in economics. He is also a Professor at Arizona State University and a research advisor to the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis.
Prescott was born in Glens Falls, New York, in 1940. He received his B.A. and M.A degrees in mathematics from Swarthmore College in 1962 and 1964, respectively. He then went on to get his Ph.D. in economics from Carnegie Mellon University in 1967.
Prescott has made a name for himself as one of the foremost experts in economics. His research focuses on the analysis of economic fluctuations and business cycles, monetary and fiscal policy, labor economics, and recent empirical work on growth and development. He has published numerous works in major journals.
Prescott’s impact on the field of economics has been immense. His work has been credited with the development of the Real Business Cycle (RBC) theory which explains how economies fluctuate and explains why recessions occur. He was co-author (with Finn Kydland) of a book on the RBC theory called ‘Rules Rather than Discretion: The Inconsistency of Optimal Plans’ in 1977. This book dealt with the issue of how to use policies to reduce economic fluctuations.
In 2004, Prescott was awarded The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences along with his co-awardees Finn E. Kydland and Robert E. Lucas Jr. The award was in recognition of their work on “rational expectations and business cycle analysis.” Prescott has been awarded honorary degrees from the universities of Aarhus, Helsinki, Madrid and Santiago. He has also been a recipient of the Frisch Medal and the C.V. Starr Award.
Prescott is also an elected fellow of the National Academy of Sciences and a member of the American Economic Association, a research associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research and a research fellow at the Center for Economic Policy Research in London.
In addition to his academic work, Edward Prescott has also worked in government. He has been a consultant to the U.S. Council of Economic Advisers, the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.
In summary, Edward Prescott has had a prolific and influential career as an economist. Through his research, he has had a major impact on the understanding of economic fluctuations and the development of policy to address them. Additionally, his work in government has further added to his impact. He is a deserved recipient of the 2004 Nobel Prize in Economics.
