Tepper School to Honor Nobel Laureate Thomas Sargent
As we celebrate the 75th Anniversary of the Tepper School and our proud past, we are honored to recognize former Tepper School Research Affiliate, Thomas Sargent, Ph.D., for his outstanding contributions to economics.
"Dr. Sargent's research, particularly his contributions to research related to 'rational expectations,' has fundamentally reshaped our understanding of how economies function," said Isabelle Bajeux-Besnainou, Dean of the Tepper School. "His work demonstrated how expectations about the future can influence economic outcomes, a concept that has become central to modern macroeconomic theory. We are truly honored to celebrate the legacy of Dr. Sargent as we mark our 75th Anniversary.”
Sargent, William R. Berkley Professor of Economics and Business at the NYU Stern School of Business, and Dr. Christopher A. Sims received the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences in 2011. Sargent and Sims were recognized for their significant contributions to empirical research on causality within the macroeconomic sphere. Sargent presented his Nobel lecture, 'United States Then, Europe Now,' on December 11, 2011.
"I am humbled to be recognized by the Tepper School and be part of a storied legacy of other respected researchers who have won the Nobel Prize in Economics,” Sargent said. “The year I spent at Carnegie Tech (now Carnegie Mellon) changed my life in so many ways.”
Sargent, who conducted much of his early research at the Tepper School in collaboration with former faculty, will be celebrated with a special reception during the Tepper School’s 75th Anniversary Academic Symposium on March 21, 2025. The school will add a portrait of Sargent to its hall of Nobel Laureates, located in the Tepper Quad on the Carnegie Mellon University campus.
“I was fortunate that my teacher at the University of California, Berkeley, Oliver Williamson, opened doors for me to get a job at Carnegie Mellon before I entered the U.S. Army in early 1968,” Sargent said. “Because of that, I met a remarkable group of brilliant minds who were reinventing major parts of economics.”
Sargent is a renowned economist specializing in macroeconomics, monetary economics, and time series econometrics. As of 2024, he is ranked as the 38th most-cited economist globally, a testament to his significant contributions to the field. He earned his B.A. from the University of California, Berkeley in 1964, being the University Medalist as Most Distinguished Scholar in Class of 1964, and his Ph.D. from Harvard in 1968. During his postdoctoral work, he served as a Research Affiliate at the Tepper School of Business.
As a member of the Tepper School community, Sargent joins an impressive list of Nobel Laureates who have been affiliated with the school. His new portrait will hang alongside those of other Nobel Prize winners, including:
- Lars Peter Hansen (2013)
- Dale T. Mortensen (2010)
- Oliver E. Williamson (2009)
- Edward C. Prescott (2004)
- Finn E. Kydland (2004)
- Robert E. Lucas Jr. (1995)
- Merton H. Miller (1990)
- Franco Modigliani (1985)
- Herbert A. Simon (1978)