Edmund S. Phelps
Facts
Photo: R. Talaie
Edmund S. Phelps
The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel 2006
Born: 26 July 1933, Evanston, IL, USA
Affiliation at the time of the award: Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
Prize motivation: “for his analysis of intertemporal tradeoffs in macroeconomic policy”
Prize share: 1/1
Life
Edmund Phelps spent his school years in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York. He was an avid trumpet player, and credits the creative environment where he grew up as a major influence in his life. He went on to study at Yale where he received his Ph.D. in 1959. Phelps has taught and conducted research at several institutions in the U.S. In 1974 he married Viviana Montdor.
Work
Edmund Phelps was awarded the Prize in Economic Sciences for his analysis of intertemporal trade-offs in macroeconomic policy, especially with regard to inflation, wages, and unemployment. In the late 1960s Phelps began his prize-awarded work, which challenged the assumption that high levels of unemployment corresponded with low levels of inflation and vice versa.
Nobel Prizes and laureates
Six prizes were awarded for achievements that have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind. The 12 laureates' work and discoveries range from proteins' structures and machine learning to fighting for a world free of nuclear weapons.
See them all presented here.
