Kydland, Prescott Receive Nobel Prizes from King of Sweden and Recognition from President Bush

President George W. Bush greets Finn Kydland (left) and Edward Prescott (middle) during a ceremony honoring the 2004 Nobel Laureates in the Oval Office Wednesday, Dec. 1, 2004.

Finn E. Kydland

Edward Prescott

Finn E. Kydland, University Professor of Economics and Ph.D. alumnus, and Edward Prescott, Ph.D. alumnus and former faculty member, were presented their Nobel Prizes in Economic Sciences on Dec. 10. Along with other Laureates in physics, chemistry, physiology/medicine and literature, Kydland and Prescott received their awards in Stockholm from the King of Sweden.

Recently, Kydland and Prescott and their families met President Bush at the White House.

On Oct. 11, the 2004 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences was awarded to Kydland and Prescott. This year's prize is worth approximately $1.36 million, which will be shared by the two men.

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm, congratulated Kydland and Prescott for "their contributions to dynamic macroeconomics: the time consistency of economic policy and the driving forces behind business cycles."

Kydland is currently on a teaching leave of absence at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Prescott is currently on faculty at Arizona State University.

Both Kydland and Prescott received their doctoral degrees in economics from Carnegie Mellon's business school in 1973 and 1967, respectively. Prescott served as Kydland's doctoral faculty advisor during Prescott's tenure as a professor at Carnegie Mellon's business school (1971-1980).

Kydland and Prescott are the fifth and sixth business school faculty members to receive this prestigious distinction. Other Carnegie Mellon business school faculty Nobel laureates include: Herbert Simon (awarded 1978), Franco Modigliani (awarded 1985), Merton Miller (awarded 1990) and Robert Lucas (awarded 1995). Other Nobel Prize winners with connections to Carnegie Mellon include faculty members Clinton J. Davisson, 1937 in physics; Otto Stern, 1943 in physics; John Pople, 1998 in chemistry; Walter Kohn, 1998 in chemistry; and alumni John F. Nash, Jr. (S'48), 1994 in economics; and Clifford Shull (S'37), 1994 in physics.

Kydland joined the Tepper School of Business at Carnegie Mellon in 1978. Other teaching positions include the Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration and The University of Texas at Austin. Kydland's current professional affiliates include the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, IC-2 Institute at The University of Texas at Austin, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland and the Econometric Society. He has authored more than 70 principal articles.

See more photos of Kydland and Prescott in the White House.

Mike Laffin