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Christopher A. Sims

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"Christopher Sims" redirects here. For other uses, see Christopher Sims (disambiguation).

Christopher A. Sims
Sims in 2011
Born
Christopher Albert Sims

(1942-10-21) October 21, 1942 (age 82)
Washington, D.C.
NationalityAmerican
EducationHarvard University (AB, PhD)
Academic career
FieldMacroeconomics
Econometrics
Time series
InstitutionPrinceton University
Yale University
University of Minnesota
Harvard University
Doctoral
advisor		Hendrik S. Houthakker
Doctoral
students		Lars Peter Hansen
Harald Uhlig[1]
ContributionsUse of vector autoregression
AwardsNobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences (2011)
Information at IDEAS / RePEc
Academic background
ThesisThe dynamics of productivity change: a theoretical and empirical study (1968)

Christopher Albert Sims (born October 21, 1942) is an American econometrician and macroeconomist. He is currently the John J.F. Sherrerd '52 University Professor of Economics at Princeton University.[2] Together with Thomas Sargent, he won the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences in 2011.[3] The award cited their "empirical research on cause and effect in the macroeconomy".[4]

Biography

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Sims was born in Washington, D.C., the son of Ruth Bodman (Leiserson), a Democratic politician and daughter of William 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 was Yale economist Mark Leiserson.[7] Sims earned his A.B. in mathematics from Harvard University magna cum laude in 1963 and his PhD in Economics from Harvard in 1968 under supervision of Hendrik S. Houthakker.[8] During the 1963–64 academic year, he was a graduate student at the University of California, Berkeley. He served as a faculty member in the department of economics at the University 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 the Econometric Society (since 1974),[11] a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (since 1988), a member of the National Academy of Sciences (since 1989), and a member of the American Philosophical Society (since 2012).[12] In 1995 he was president of the Econometric Society; in 2012, he was president of the American Economic Association. Sims currently lives in New Jersey.

Contributions

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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 of vector 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 advocated Bayesian statistics, arguing for its power in formulating and evaluating economic policies.[13]

Sims has been an outspoken opponent of the rational 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 of real business cycle models.[15]

He also helped develop the fiscal theory of the price level and the theory of rational inattention.

Nobel Memorial Prize and lecture

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On October 10, 2011, Christopher A. Sims together with Thomas J. Sargent was awarded the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences. The award cited their "empirical research on cause and effect in the macroeconomy".[16] His Nobel lecture, titled "Statistical Modeling of Monetary Policy and its Effects" was delivered on December 8, 2011.[17][18]

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 like Milton 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.[19]

Further reading

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  • Sims, Christopher (1980). "Macroeconomics and reality" (PDF). Econometrica. 48 (1): 1–48. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.163.5425. doi:10.2307/1912017. JSTOR 1912017.
  • Sargan, J.D. (1961). The maximum likelihood estimation of economic relationships with autoregressive residuals. Econometrica, 29, 414-426.

References

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  1. ^ "Advantage Financial Harald Uhlig". Archived from the original on October 1, 2016. Retrieved September 28, 2016.
  2. ^ "Christopher A Sims". Thomson Reuters website. Archived from the original on October 17, 2011. Retrieved October 10, 2011.
  3. ^ "Nobel prize for economics awarded to two Americans". BBC News website. October 10, 2011. Retrieved October 10, 2011.
  4. ^ "The Prize in Economic Sciences 2011". Nobelprize.org. December 10, 2008. Retrieved October 10, 2011.
  5. ^ Slotnik, Daniel E. (June 13, 2012). "Ruth Sims, First Woman Elected to Lead Greenwich, Conn., Dies at 92". The New York Times.
  6. ^ "Christopher A. Sims - Biographical". Nobel Foundation. Retrieved May 31, 2017.
  7. ^ "Yale Bulletin and Calendar". Yale University. August 30, 2002. Retrieved February 24, 2024.
  8. ^ "Sims, Christopher Albert (born 1942)". Archived from the original on March 3, 2016.
  9. ^ "CV (Christopher A. Sims)" (PDF). Princeton University. Retrieved May 31, 2017.
  10. ^ "Christopher A. Sims". nobelprize.org.
  11. ^ "Fellows of the Econometric Society as of February 2011". Archived from the original on December 10, 2008.
  12. ^ "APS Member History". search.amphilsoc.org. Retrieved March 29, 2021.
  13. ^ Sims, Christopher A. "The Role of Models and Probabilities in the Monetary Policy Process". Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, 2002, 1-62
  14. ^ Sims, Christopher A.; Goldfeld, Stephen M.; Sachs, Jeffrey D. (1982). "Policy Analysis with Econometric Models" (PDF). Brookings Papers on Economic Activity. 1982 (1): 107–164. doi:10.2307/2534318. JSTOR 2534318.
  15. ^ Sims, Christopher A. (1996). "Macroeconomics and Methodology". Journal of Economic Perspectives. 10 (1): 105–120. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.202.8675. doi:10.1257/jep.10.1.105. JSTOR 2138286.
  16. ^ "The Prize in Economic Sciences 2011". Nobelprize.org. December 10, 2008. Retrieved October 10, 2011.
  17. ^ "The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel 2011". NobelPrize.org. December 8, 2011. Retrieved February 24, 2024.
  18. ^ "Statistical Modeling of Monetary Policy and its Effects, Nobel lecture" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on March 8, 2023.
  19. ^ Sommer, Jeff (December 3, 2011). "Good Morning. You're Nobel Laureates". New York Times.
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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 the American Economic Association
2012– 2013 		Succeeded by
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