MIT Department of Economics

The MIT Department of Economics is a department of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Undergraduate studies in economics were introduced in the 19th century by institute president Francis Amasa Walker, while the department's Ph.D. program was introduced in 1941. It is one of the "big five" schools in the field along with the faculties at the University of Chicago, Harvard, Princeton, and Stanford (these schools have consistently ranked as the top five schools in the country since graduate school rankings have been produced by U.S. News & World Report). The American Economics Association estimates that MIT and these peers produce half of all tenure track professors at U.S. research universities. Half of all John Bates Clark Medal recipients since 1999 were Ph.D. students at MIT, while the department has the second highest number of Nobel Prize winning students and faculty in economics in the world after the University of Chicago.

Prominent faculty

• Paul Samuelson (1940–2009), Nobel Prize, 1970
• Franco Modigliani (1962–2003), Nobel Prize, 1985
• John Williamson (1967–1980), originator of the 'Washington Consensus'
• Robert Solow, (1960-1979) Nobel Prize, 1987
• Stanley Fischer, (1977–1988), Vice-Chairman of the US Federal Reserve, Governor of Bank of Israel
• Robert F. Engle, (1969-1977), Nobel Prize, 2003
• Daniel McFadden, (1977-1991), Nobel Prize 2000 ^[1]
• George P. Shultz, (1948-1957), Former Secretary of State, Secretary of Treasury, Secretary of Labour
• Myron S. Scholes (1968-1973), Nobel prize in 1997 for the Black-Scholes equation
• Rudi Dornbusch (1975-2002), known for the Overshooting Model^[2]
• Francesco Giavazzi (1989–Present) ^[3]

Nobel Laureates

Among the department's past and current faculty and alumni are several recipients of the Nobel Prize in Economics:

• Bengt Holmstrom, 2016
• Jean Tirole, 2014
• Robert J. Shiller, 2013
• Peter A. Diamond, 2010
• Oliver E. Williamson, 2009
• Paul Krugman (Ph.D., 1977), 2008
• Eric Maskin, 2007
• Edmund Phelps, 2006
• Robert J. Aumann, 2005
• Robert F. Engle, 2003
• George Akerlof (Ph.D., 1966) and Joseph Stiglitz (Ph.D., 1967), 2001
• Daniel McFadden, 2000
• Robert Mundell (Ph.D., 1956), 1999
• Amartya Sen, 1998
• Robert C. Merton (Ph.D, 1970), 1997
• Robert Solow, 1987
• Franco Modigliani, 1985
• Lawrence Klein (Ph.D., 1944), 1980
• Paul Samuelson, 1970

Current Faculty

Affiliated Faculty

• Mathias Dewatripont
• Ernst Fehr
• Jean Tirole

Former Faculty

• Susan Athey (Ph.D., Stanford) John Bates Clark Medal, 2007
• E. Cary Brown (Ph.D., Harvard) Professor of Economics, Emeritus
• Evsey Domar (Ph.D., Harvard)
• Rudi Dornbusch (Ph.D., Chicago) Ford International Professor, International Economics
• Robert F. Engle (Ph.D., Cornell)
• Stanley Fischer (Ph.D., MIT)
• Charles P. Kindleberger (Ph.D., Columbia) Ford International Professor of Economics, Emeritus
• Edwin Kuh (Ph.D., Harvard)
• Paul Krugman (Ph.D., MIT) John Bates Clark Medal, 1991
• Eric Maskin (Ph.D., Harvard)
• Daniel McFadden (Ph.D., Minnesota)
• Franco Modigliani (D.Jur., Rome and D.Soc.Sci., New School of Research) Institute Professor Emeritus; Professor of Finance & Economics
• George P. Shultz (Ph.D., MIT)
• Hal Varian (Ph.D., Berkeley)

Notable alumni

• Lawrence R. Klein (Ph.D., 1944) John Bates Clark Medalist, 1959; President of the Econometric Society, 1960; President of the American Economic Association, 1977; Laureate of the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel, 1980
• Margaret Garritsen de Vries (Ph.D., 1946) Carolyn Shaw Bell Award Recipient, 2002
• George P. Shultz (Ph.D., 1949) Distinguished Fellow of the American Economic Association, 2004
• Ronald W. Jones (Ph.D., 1956) Distinguished Fellow of the American Economic Association, 2009
• William Nordhaus (Ph.D., 1967), Council of Economic Advisers 1977 - 1979
• Mario Draghi (Ph.D., 1976) Governor of the Banca d'Italia, Chairman of the Financial Stability Forum, President of the European Central Bank
• Robert A. Mundell (Ph.D., 1956) Distinguished Fellow of the American Economic Association, 1996; Laureate of the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel, 1999
• Peter A. Diamond (Ph.D., 1963) President of the Econometric Society, 1991; President of the American Economic Association, 2003; Laureate of the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel, 2010
• Riccardo Faini, (PhD), Former Head of the Economic and Financial Analysis Service of the Italian Ministry of Treasury
• George A. Akerlof (Ph.D., 1966) Laureate of the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel, 2001; President of the American Economic Association, 2006
• Joseph E. Stiglitz (Ph.D., 1966) John Bates Clark Medalist, 1979; Laureate of the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel, 2001
• Jagdish N. Bhagwati (Ph.D., 1967) Distinguished Fellow of the American Economic Association, 2003
• Robert E. Hall (Ph.D., 1967) President of the American Economic Association, 2010
• William D. Nordhaus (Ph.D., 1967) Member of the Council of Economic Advisers, 1977–1979; Distinguished Fellow of the American Economic Association, 2004; President of the American Economic Association, 2014
• Avinash K. Dixit (Ph.D., 1968) President of the Econometric Society, 2001; President of the American Economic Association, 2008
• Robert J. Gordon (Ph.D., 1967) Distinguished Fellow of the American Economic Association, 2014
• Michael Rothschild, (Ph.D., 1968) Distinguished Fellow of the American Economic Association, 2005
• Stanley Fischer (Ph.D., 1969) Vice-Chairman of the US Federal Reserve, Governor of the Bank of Israel; Distinguished Fellow of the American Economic Association, 2013
• Robert C. Merton (Ph.D., 1970) President of the American Finance Association, 1986; Laureate of the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel, 1997
• Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa, (M.Sc. 1970), European Central Bank Executive Board 1998-2005, Former Italian Minister of Economy and Finance
• Jeremy J. Siegel (Ph.D., 1971) financial markets guru
• Martin Neil Baily (Ph.D., 1972) Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, 1999–2001
• Alan S. Blinder (Ph.D., 1971) Distinguished Fellow of the American Economic Association, 2011
• Robert J. Shiller (Ph.D., 1972) Fellow of the American Finance Association, 2006; Laureate of the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel, 2013
• Lawrence Summers (B.S., 1975) Secretary of the Treasury, 1999–2001
• Mario Draghi (Ph.D., 1976) President of the European Central Bank 2011-, Governor of the Banca d'Italia, Chairman of the Financial Stability Forum
• Paul R. Krugman (Ph.D., 1977) Member of the Council of Economic Advisers, 1982–1983; John Bates Clark Medalist, 1991; Laureate of the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel, 2008
• Lucas Papademos (Ph.D., 1977) Vice President of the European Central Bank, 2002-
• Ben S. Bernanke (Ph.D., 1979) Chairman of the Federal Reserve, 2006-2014
• Kenneth S. Rogoff (Ph.D., 1980) IMF Chief Economist
• Jean Tirole (Ph.D., 1981) President of the Econometric Society, 1998; President of the European Economic Association, 2001; Laureate of the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel, 2014
• N. Gregory Mankiw (Ph.D., 1984) Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, 2003–2005
• Andrei Shleifer (Ph.D., 1986) John Bates Clark Medalist, 1999
• Matthew Rabin (Ph.D., 1989) John Bates Clark Medalist, 2001
• Andrew Samwick (Ph.D., 1993) Member of the Council of Economic Advisers, 2003–2004
• Judith Chevalier (Ph.D., 1993) Elaine Bennett Research Prize recipient, 1998
• Steven D. Levitt (Ph.D., 1994) John Bates Clark Medalist, 2003; co-author of Freakonomics
• Emmanuel Saez (Ph.D., 1999) John Bates Clark Medalist, 2009
• Esther Duflo (Ph.D. 1999), John Bates Clark Medalist, 2010; Elaine Bennett Research Prize recipient, 2002; co-author Poor Economics
• Jonathan Levin (Ph.D., 1999) John Bates Clark Medalist, 2011
• Amy Finkelstein (Ph.D., 2001) John Bates Clark Medalist, 2012; Elaine Bennett Research Prize recipient, 2008

References

External links

• MIT Department of Economics website