Christopher A. Sims | |
|---|---|
 Sims in 2011 | |
| Born | Christopher Albert Sims (1942-10-21)October 21, 1942 (age 83) |
| Academic background | |
| Education | Harvard University (AB,PhD) |
| Thesis | The dynamics of productivity change: a theoretical and empirical study (1968) |
| Doctoral advisor | Hendrik S. Houthakker |
| Academic work | |
| Discipline | Macroeconomics Econometrics Time series |
| Institutions | Princeton University Yale University University of Minnesota Harvard University |
| Doctoral students | Lars Peter Hansen Harald Uhlig[1] |
| Notable ideas | Use ofvector autoregression |
| Awards | Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences (2011) |
| Website | |
Christopher Albert Sims (born October 21, 1942) is an Americaneconometrician andmacroeconomist. He is currently the John J.F. Sherrerd '52 University Professor of Economics atPrinceton University.[2] Together withThomas Sargent, he won theNobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences in 2011.[3] The award cited their "empirical research on cause and effect in the macroeconomy".[4]
Sims was born in Washington, D.C., the son of Ruth Bodman (Leiserson), a Democratic politician and daughter ofWilliam Morris Leiserson, and Albert Sims, a state department worker.[5] His father was of English and Northern Irish descent, and his mother was of half Estonian Jewish and half English ancestry.[6] His uncle wasYale economistMark Leiserson.[7] Sims earned hisA.B. in mathematics fromHarvard Universitymagna cum laude in 1963 and his PhD in economics from Harvard in 1968 under supervision ofHendrik S. Houthakker.[8] During the 1963–64 academic year, he was a graduate student at theUniversity of California, Berkeley. He served as a faculty member in the department of economics at theUniversity of Minnesota for 20 years (1970–90). He has also held teaching positions at Harvard,Yale University and, since 1999, Princeton where he spent the longest portion of his career.[9][10] Sims is a Fellow of theEconometric Society (since 1974),[11] a member of theAmerican Academy of Arts and Sciences (since 1988), a member of theNational Academy of Sciences (since 1989), and a member of theAmerican Philosophical Society (since 2012).[12] In 1995 he was president of the Econometric Society; in 2012, he was president of theAmerican Economic Association.Sims currently lives in New Jersey.
Sims has published numerous important papers in his areas of research:econometrics and macroeconomic theory and policy. Among other things, he was one of the main promoters of the use ofvector autoregression in empirical macroeconomics. However, some of the maintained assumptions in such models have been incorrectly tested (Sims, 1980) using asymptotic distribution theory since it is infeasible to test over 200 restrictions on model parameters using only 60 observations on time series (Sargan, 1961). He has also advocatedBayesian statistics, arguing for its power in formulating and evaluating economic policies.[13]
Sims has been an outspoken opponent of therational expectations revolution in macroeconomics, arguing that it should be thought of as a "cautionary footnote" to econometric policy analysis, rather than "a deep objection to its foundations."[14] He has been similarly skeptical of the value ofreal business cycle models.[15]
He also helped develop thefiscal theory of the price level and the theory ofrational inattention.
In June 2024, 16Nobel Prize in Economics laureates, including Sims, signed an open letter arguing thatDonald Trump’s fiscal and trade policies coupled with efforts to limit theFederal Reserve's independence would reignite inflation in the United States.[16][17][18]
On October 10, 2011, Christopher A. Sims together withThomas J. Sargent was awarded theNobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences. The award cited their "empirical research on cause and effect in the macroeconomy".[19] His Nobel lecture, titled "Statistical Modeling of Monetary Policy and its Effects" was delivered on December 8, 2011.[20][21]
Translating his work into everyday language, Sims said it provided a technique to assess the direction of causality in central bank monetary policy. It confirmed the theories of monetarists likeMilton Friedman that shifts in the money supply affect inflation. However, it also showed that causality went both ways. Variables like interest rates and inflation also led to changes in the money supply.[22]
Trump's policies could prove to be inflationary, other economists also warned, such as his proposal to create a 10% across-the-board tariff on all imports to deporting immigrants. The tariff plan would add $1,700 in annual costs for the typical U.S. household, essentially acting as an inflationary tax, according to experts at the Peterson Institute for International Economics.
| Awards | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Laureate of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics 2011 Served alongside:Thomas J. Sargent | Succeeded by |
| Academic offices | ||
| Preceded by | President of theAmerican Economic Association 2012– 2013 | Succeeded by |
