Bar-Ilan University bestows an Honorary Doctorate on Prof. Edward C. Prescott, for

---

Bar-Ilan University bestows an Honorary 

Doctorate on Prof. Edward C. Prescott, for 

his seminal works in macro-economics and 

economic fluctuations and its effect on 

economic policy which have changed the 

way we manage our financial institutions 

and make policy decisions in an ever-more 

complex world, and for which he was 

awarded the 2004 Nobel Prize in Economics.

Growing up in Glen Falls, NY, with its high-tech 

industries, Prof. Edward C. Prescott studied in 

an exceptional high school science program and 

dreamed of becoming a rocket scientist. In college, 

he initially majored in physics before completing a 

BA in mathematics at Swarthmore College, an MA in 

operations research at Case Western Reserve University, 

and a PhD in economics at Carnegie Mellon University.

Evolving into one of the world's foremost 

macroeconomists, he has served on the academic 

faculty of the Universities of Pennsylvania, Minnesota, 

Chicago, and Carnegie Mellon, and has been a 

visiting professor at leading institutions in the US and 

Europe. Since 2003, he is on the faculty of Arizona 

State University. He is also an economic advisor at the 

Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis.

Born: 1940, New York, USA

Resides: Arizona, USA

Occupation: Economist

Prof. Edward C. Prescott

In 2004, Prescott, and his student Finn E. Kydland, 

were awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics “for their 

contributions to dynamic macroeconomics: the time 

consistency of economic policy and the driving forces 

behind business cycles." Their novel work opened up 

far-reaching fields of research. It changed the outlook on 

economic policy and the practice of institution design, 

especially in central banking, where they established the 

need for central banks to have strict monetary targets 

rather than discretionary monetary policy. They also 

showed that productivity changes typically caused by 

changes and improvements in technology account for 

“not only long-term increases in living standards but 

also for many of the short-term fluctuations in business 

cycles." This theory has proven useful in understanding 

depressions, growth "miracles", and other economic 

phenomena. 

Prof. Prescott has also contributed to the advancement 

of the language of economics (e.g., the theory of value, 

which permits the inclusion of private information, 

search, and organizational arrangements in aggregate 

models).    

Playing chess, bridge, golf, tennis and other sports, he 

admits to loving challenges. Family is an important part 

of his life, and he, notes, "I get great joy in following 

my former students’ careers.  I am amazed at their 

accomplishments. Many of them are now leaders in the 

field."

Proud to receive a BIU Honorary Doctorate, he believes 

that Bar-Ilan, as a leading research university, "is playing 

an important role in shaping the minds of Israel's future 

economists."