Robert
Solow, Nobel Prize-Winning Professor of Economics,
to Teach at Barnard in Spring 2002
NEW
YORK, N.Y., July 11, 2001-- Professor Robert M.
Solow, Institute Professor at MIT and Nobel laureate
in economics, will teach in Barnard's Department
of Economics in Spring 2002 as a Visiting Alena
Wels Hirschorn Professor of Economics.
Solow,
one of the world's leading economists, received
the Nobel Prize in 1987 for his contributions
to the theory of capital and economic growth.
The Nobel Prize committee cited Solow for his
empirical studies, which emphasize the importance
of research and technological innovation in improving
economic productivity. Solow has also been awarded
the David A. Wells Prize from Harvard University
(1951), the John Bates Clark Medal from the American
Economic Association (1961), the Killian Award
from MIT (1977), as well as honorary degrees from
20 universities in the United States and abroad.
"The
economics department is happy to welcome Bob Solow,
not only for his justly celebrated scholarship,
but also for his dedicated teaching. Policy advisor
and public intellectual, as well as accomplished
classroom teacher, throughout his career Bob has
devoted himself to economics education in the
broadest sense, engaging at all levels and with
diverse audiences " said Perry Mehrling, Chair
of Barnard's Department of Economics.
Solow
joins a flourishing economics department at Barnard.
In the graduating class of May 2001, 72 of 489
students (roughly 15%) majored in Economics, Economics
& Math, Economic History, or Economic/Operations
Research.
Solow
gained acclaim as a co-inventor of the "Solow-Swan"
model, as well as for his contributions to various
landmark pieces of work, including the von Neumann
growth theory (1953), capital theory (1956), linear
programming (1958), the Phillips Curve (1960),
and Neo-Keynesian Synthesis macroeconomics.
While
in New York, Solow will continue his research
work at the Russell Sage Foundation, a research
center focusing on the social sciences. Solow's
involvement with the Russell Sage Foundation includes
co-chairing a steering committee for the Foundation's
project (co-funded by the Century Foundation)
on sustaining low unemployment. Solow will also
pursue two research projects of his own. In the
first, Solow will model how productivity gains
depend upon technical change being "embodied"
in new investments of physical capital (the latest
computer chip technology, for instance, is of
no benefit to a firm until that firm invests in
new, faster computers).
In the second project, Solow will seek to explain
irregularities in the short-term relationship
between employment and output. In the long term,
there is a straightforward relation between total
employment and the economy's total output: the
more people employed by the economy, the more
output it produces. In the short term, when the
economy's stock of capital is fixed, this relationship
does not always hold. Solow will attempt to explain
these short-term irregularities by comparing the
output-employment relationship in manufacturing
and in service.
Robert
Solow is the author of numerous books and articles,
mostly about the sources of economic growth, the
nature of the labor market, and other topics in
macroeconomics including: Monopolistic Competition
and Macroeconomic Theory, Cambridge University
Press, 1998; Work and Welfare, Princeton
University Press, 1998; Inflation, Unemployment,
and Monetary Policy with John Bigelow Taylor,
The MIT Press, 1998; Learning from "Learning
by Doing": Lessons for Economic Growth, Stanford
University Press, 1997; A Critical Essay on
Modern Macroeconomic Theory co-authored with Frank
Hahn, The MIT Press, 1995; Made in America
co-authored with Michael Dertouzos and Richard
Lester, The MIT Press, 1989; Made in America:
Regaining the Productive Edge co-authored with
Michael Dertouzos and Richard Lester, HarperCollins,
1990; Growth Theory, An Exposition, Oxford
University Press, 1989.
Solow
has also served as president of the Econometric
Society and the American Economic Association.
He has served as Chairman of the Board of Directors
of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston and the
Board of Trustees of the Center for Advanced Study
in the Behavioral Sciences.
Barnard
College, founded in 1889, is a highly selective,
independent liberal arts college for women affiliated
with Columbia University and located in New York
City. The College has a current enrollment of
2,300 students from 49 states and 30 countries,
with about one-third identifying themselves as
Asian-American, African-American, Latina, or Native
American. Applications to the College have increased
by more than 120 percent in the past decade, making
it the most sought-after women's college in the
nation.
###
Contact:
Rajiah Williams '02, Public Affairs Intern, 212
854 2037
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