'Finn Erling Kydland' (born
1943) is a
Norwegian economist. He is currently the Henley Professor of Economics at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He also holds the Richard P. Simmons Distinguished Professorship at the
Tepper School of Business of
Carnegie Mellon University, where he earned his Ph.D. Kydland was a co-recipient of the
2004 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics (shared with
Edward C. Prescott), "for their contributions to dynamic
macroeconomics: the time consistency of economic policy and the driving forces behind business cycles".
Life and education
Kydland grew up as the eldest of six siblings at the family farm in Søyland,
Gjesdal, which is located in the
Jæren farming region in
Rogaland county, southwestern Norway. He recalls having had a liberal upbringing, his parents not imposing many limitations on their children. Finn Kydland became interested in mathematics and economics as a young adult, after he did some
bookkeeping at a friend's
mink farm.
With a freshly awakened interest in theoretical economics, Kydland earned a
B.S. from the
Norwegian School of Economics (NHH) in 1968 and a
Ph.D. in economics from Carnegie Mellon in 1973,
dissertation: ''Decentralized Macroeconomic Planning''. After his Ph.D. he returned to NHH as an assistant professor. In 1978 he moved back to Carnegie Mellon as an associate professor. He has been living in the US since then.
Aside from work, he nurtures a deep interest in
blues music, and also in keeping fit; he has run the
marathon four times, and enjoys playing and watching
soccer. His favorite soccer team is
Boca Juniors. He frequently rides his
Ducati motorcycle.
Scholarship
Kydland's areas of expertise are economics in general and
political economy. His main areas of teaching and interest are
business cycles,
monetary and
fiscal policy and
labor economics. He joined the faculty of
Carnegie Mellon University in
1977, where he served as a
Professor of Economics until
July 1,
2004, when he became a visiting faculty member at the
University of California, Santa Barbara. He is also an
Adjunct Professor at
NHH, Norway, and consults as a Research Associate at the
Federal Reserve Banks of
Dallas,
Minneapolis and
Cleveland.
Awards, fellowships
★ Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel (2004)
★ Fellow,
Econometric Society (1992– )
★ John Stauffer National Fellowship,
Hoover Institution (1982–1983)
★
Alexander Henderson Award, Carnegie Mellon (1973)
External links
★
Faculty information from University of California, Santa Barbara
★
Faculty information from Carnegie Mellon Tepper School of Business
★
Information from nobelprize.org
★
Econometric Society
★
Alexander Henderson Award