14th Annual Kenneth J. Arrow Lecture by Christopher Sims | Fall 2023

The 14th Annual Kenneth J. Arrow Lecture

You are cordially invited to attend the 14th Annual Kenneth J. Arrow Lecture, entitled “Origins of American Inflation”, featuring Christopher A. Sims, 2011 Nobel Laureate in Economic Sciences and John J. F. Sherrerd ’52 University Professor of Economics at Princeton University.

Minouche Shafik, President of the Columbia University will give a welcome speech followed by Jan Svejnar, Director of the Center on Global Economy and Governance and Richard N. Gardner Professor of Economics and International Affairs, Columbia SIPA, delivering the opening remarks. Jennifer La’O, Associate Professor of Economics, Columbia University; Joseph E. Stiglitz, 2001 Nobel Laureate in Economic Sciences and University Professor, Columbia University; and Michael Woodford, John Bates Clark Professor of Political Economy, Columbia University, will serve as discussants.

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Abstract
What explains the rise of American inflation in the 1970’s, its fall in the 1980’s, and its recent resurgence? Explanations centered on the Phillips Curve, monetary policy, and their interaction are unsatisfying, especially recently. Implicit assumptions that justified leaving fiscal policy in the background in modeling inflation are questionable, again especially recently. Can a new look at the data, with fiscal policy’s role recognized, give us a better understanding?

About the Lecturer
Christopher Sims is John J. F. Sherrerd ’52 University Professor of Economics. He has been a faculty member at Princeton since 1999. Sims is a Fellow of the Econometric Society, a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and a member of the National Academy of Sciences. Together with Thomas Sargent, he won the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences in 2011. The award cited their “empirical research on cause and effect in the macroeconomy”.

Kenneth J. Arrow Lecture Series
Kenneth J. Arrow’s work has so deeply shaped the course of economics for the past sixty years that, in a sense, every modern economist is his student. His ideas, style of research, and breadth of vision have been a model for generations of the boldest, most creative, and most innovative economists. His work has yielded such seminal theorems as general equilibrium, social choice, and endogenous growth, proving that simple ideas have profound effects. The Kenneth J. Arrow Lecture Series highlights economists, from Nobel laureates to groundbreaking younger scholars, whose work builds on Arrow’s scholarship as well as his innovative spirit. The books in the series are an expansion of the lectures that are held in Arrow’s honor at Columbia University.

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Co-sponsored by: Center on Global Economy and Governance, Program for Economic Research, Initiative for Policy Dialogue, and Columbia University Press.