Christopher A. Sims facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Christopher A. Sims
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Sims in 2011
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| Born |
Christopher Albert Sims
October 21, 1942 |
| Nationality | American |
| Institution | Princeton University Yale University University of Minnesota Harvard University |
| Field | Macroeconomics Econometrics Time series |
| Doctoral advisor |
Hendrik S. Houthakker |
| Doctoral students |
Lars Peter Hansen Harald Uhlig |
| Contributions | Use of vector autoregression |
| Awards | Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences (2011) |
| Information at IDEAS / RePEc | |
Christopher Albert Sims (born October 21, 1942) is an American economist. He studies how economies work using math and statistics. This field is called econometrics. He also studies the overall economy, which is known as macroeconomics.
Currently, he is a professor of economics at Princeton University. In 2011, he won the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences along with Thomas Sargent. They received the award for their research on how different parts of the economy affect each other.
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About Christopher Sims
Christopher Sims was born in Washington, D.C. He earned his first degree in mathematics from Harvard University in 1963. Later, he received his PhD in Economics from Harvard in 1968.
Sims taught at the University of Minnesota for 20 years. He also taught at other famous universities. These include Harvard University, Yale University, and Princeton University. He has been at Princeton since 1999.
He is a member of several important academic groups. These include the Econometric Society and the National Academy of Sciences. In 2012, he was the president of the American Economic Association.
What He Studied
Sims has written many important papers. His main research areas are econometrics and macroeconomics.
Understanding the Economy
One of his big contributions was using something called vector autoregression. This is a mathematical tool. It helps economists study how different economic factors influence each other over time. For example, it can show how changes in interest rates affect prices.
Sims also supported using Bayesian statistics. This is a way of using probability to make better decisions. He believed it was helpful for creating and checking economic policies.
Different Ideas
Sims had different views from some other economists. He questioned certain popular ideas about how people make economic choices. He also had doubts about some models that tried to explain business cycles.
He also helped develop ideas like the "fiscal theory of the price level." This theory looks at how government spending and taxes can affect prices. Another idea he worked on is "rational inattention." This suggests that people and businesses can only pay attention to so much information at once.
Nobel Prize
On October 10, 2011, Christopher A. Sims won the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences. He shared the prize with Thomas J. Sargent. They were honored for their "empirical research on cause and effect in the macroeconomy." This means they studied how economic events cause other events.
His Nobel Lecture
Sims gave his Nobel lecture on December 8, 2011. It was called "Statistical Modeling of Monetary Policy and its Effects."
He explained that his work helps understand how central banks make decisions. It also shows how these decisions affect the economy. His research confirmed that changes in the money supply can affect inflation. But it also showed that the relationship goes both ways. Things like interest rates and inflation can also cause changes in the money supply.
See also
In Spanish: Christopher A. Sims para niños
