Edmund Phelps

Biography

Professor Edmund Phelps is the winner of the 2006 Nobel Prize in Economics.

He is McVickar Professor Emeritus of Political Economy at Columbia University.

From its founding in 2001 until its closing in 2024, Professor Phelps was Director of the Columbia University Center on Capitalism & Society.

He has written books on public debt, inflation, unemployment theory, slumps, rewarding work, indigenous innovation, the good life and dynamism. He also has written texts on economic justice, political economy and schools of macroeconomic thought.

He has described his work as a lifelong project to put “people as we know them” into economic theory. 

Journal Articles (Selected)

“A Persisting Injustice in America’s Economy,” Capitalism & Society 17, iss. 1 (June 23, 2023).

“Tensions and Demands in Society, Economic Justice and Progressivism, and Yet Another Way Forward,” Capitalism & Society 16, iss. 1 (June 17, 2022).

“Public Debt: My Dissent from Keynesian Theories” Journal of Government and Economics 5 (Spring, 2022).

“Economic Dynamism and the Global Economy,” Asia Times White Paper (February 10, 2021): 1-26. (Chinese translation is available here.)

“Macro Perspectives: Bigger Problems than Corporate Governance,” with Bruce Greenwald and Joshua Mitts, Journal of Applied Corporate Finance 31, no. 3 (Summer 2019). 

“A Vital People: A Necessity for a Good Economy,” Acta Oeconomica 69, S1 (January, 2019): 241-248. (Adapted from Honorary Causa Ceremony Speech, Libera Università Internazionale degli Studi Sociali Guido Carli, Rome, Italy, January 18, 2018.)

“Misused Theories Behind Trump’s Economic Policies,” Capitalism and Society 13, no. 2 (December 2018).

“Values, Institutions and the Rise of Eastern Europe,” with Gylfi Zoega, Economics of Transition Vol. 27, no. 1 (November 2018): 247–265.

Born

1933, Chicago

Education

Ph.D. Economics, Yale University (1959)

B.A., Amherst College (1955)

Institutions

Columbia University (1971- 2021)

University of Pennsylvania (1966-71)

Yale & Cowles Foundation (1960-66)

RAND (1959-60)

Field

Economics

Topics

Public debt, Inflation, Unemployment Theory, Economic Slumps, Rewarding Work, Indigenous Innovation, The Good Life, Economic Dynamism, Economic Justice, Political Economy, Schools of Macroeconomic Thought

Books (Selected)

[Phelps's] plan, laid out in...Rewarding Work, has drawn rave notices from both conservatives and liberals, making it the most interesting idea in years...Something like [this] idea...may be the only way to achieve a lasting political consensus for the open markets and technical advances that, in the long run, benefit us all.

―Matthew Miller, Washington Post

“Over the years, Edmund Phelps has developed a deep and important theory explaining why productivity growth in the U.S. increased dramatically in the nineteenth century and has declined in recent decades. This book puts the theory to the empirical test. It is essential reading for those who care about the past and future of capitalism.”

―Eric Maskin, Harvard University, Nobel Laureate in Economics

"In his wide-ranging and insightful book, Professor Phelps draws on historical trends and cultural shifts to present his hypothesis that a lack of dynamism in modern economies lies at the root of the current malaise. . . . Indeed, this remarkable book addresses the central economic question of why some economies thrive while others languish."

―Declan Jordan, London School of Economics Review of Books

“Edmund Phelps is a renaissance intellectual among economists. He’s been producing ideas that are new, good, and fundamental for sixty years. His has been a remarkable life, and this extraordinary volume tells its story.”

― Lawrence H. Summers, former U.S. secretary of the treasury

Awards

Named among China’s 40 most influential foreign experts by the State Administration of Foreign Experts, Beijing, April 14, 2018.

Distinguished Professor Award, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Rome, Italy, June 26, 2018.

Academician of Honor, The Royal European Academy of Doctors, Barcelona, Spain, May 19, 2017. 

Lifetime Contribution Award of International Federation of Finance Museums, Beijing, China, October 31, 2015. 

Wilbur Lucius Cross Medal, Yale University, Connecticut, October 14, 2014.

China Friendship Award, Beijing, China, September 30, 2014. 

Catedra Phelps, Universidad Nacional de Buenos Aires, Argentina, Inaugurated May 20, 2008.

President’s Medal, National University of Ireland, Galway, Ireland, October 15, 2012.

Mendeleev Medal for Achievement in the Sciences, St. Petersburg, Russia, October 9, 2012.

Louise Blouin Award for Creative Leadership, New York, September 19, 2011.

Named Honorary Citizen of Fuzhou, awarded the Key to the City of Fuzhou, June 9, 2001.

Premio Pico della Mirandola, with Mario Draghi and, posthumously, Luciano Pavarotti, Mirandola, Italy, July 4, 2008.

Global Economy Prize, Institut für Weltwirtschaft, Kiel, Germany, June 22, 2008.

Huesped Ilustre de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires, Legislatura de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires, Argentina,  May 22, 2008.

Chevalier of the National Order of the Légion d’Honneur, Paris, France, Decree of February 26, 2008, ceremony June 29, 2009.

Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel, Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, Stockholm, Sweden, December 10, 2006.

Kenan Enterprise Award, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, 1996.

Honorary Doctorates

Doctorate honoris causa, Libera Università Internazionale degli Studi Sociali Guido Carli, Rome, Italy, January 18, 2018.

Doctorate honoris causa, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium, May 5, 2010.

Doctorate honoris causa, La Mantanza, Buenos Aires, Argentina, May 23, 2008.

Doctorate honoris causa, University of Buenos Aires School of Law, Buenos Aires, Argentina, May 2007.

Doctorate honoris causa, Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Paris, Paris, France, July 2006.

Doctorate honoris causa, University of Iceland, Reykjavik, Iceland, October 2004.

Doctorate honoris causa, University of Paris-Dauphine, Paris, France, July 2004.

Doctorate honoris causa, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal, October 2003.

Doctorate honoris causa, University of Mannheim, Mannheim, Germany, June 2001.

Doctorate honoris causa, University ‘Tor Vergata,’ Rome, Italy, June 2001.

Doctor of Humane Letters, honoris causa, Amherst College, Massachusetts, 1985.

Fellowships

Senior Fellow, Italian Academy for Advanced Studies, Columbia University, New York, January 13, 2009.

Visiting Research Fellow, L’Observatoire Française des Conjonctures Économique, Paris, France, 2000-2013.

Distinguished Fellow, American Economic Assn., Tennessee, 2000.

Fellow, New York Academy of Sciences, New York, elected 1996.

Visiting Scholar, Russell Sage Foundation, New York, 1993-94.

Visiting Scholar, Research Department, International Monetary Fund, Washington DC, 1988.

Visiting Scholar, Fiscal Affairs Department, International Monetary Fund, Washington DC, 1985.

Visiting Scholar, Banca d’Italia, Rome, Italy, 1985.

Fellow, Guggenheim Foundation, New York, 1978.

Fellow, Center for the Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University, California, 1969-70.

Fellow, Econometric Society, New York, elected 1966.

Faculty Research Fellowship, Social Science Research Council, New York, 1965-66.

Sterling Fellowship, Yale University, Connecticut, 1957-58.