U Of M Applauds Former Faculty On Nobel Win
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- The University of Minnesota is congratulating two former teachers in its economics department for winning the 2011 Nobel prize for economics.
Thomas Sargent is now with New York University and Christopher Sims is now at Princeton University. Sims was on the U of M's economics faculty from 1970 to 1990 while Sargent taught there from 1971 to 1987.
Their research sheds light on the cause-and-effect relationship between the economy and policy instruments such as interest rates and government spending.
Sargent and Sims carried out their research independently in the 1970s and `80s, but it is relevant today as world governments and central banks seek ways to steer their economies away from another recession.
University President Eric Kaler says the university's faculty are "beyond excited" for their former colleagues.
At a news conference at Princeton, Sims joked that he and Sargent don't work together. Instead, he says they have "a series of ongoing arguments" about details of approaches to economics.
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