Stanford Economics Professor Shares 2021 Nobel Prize With His Best Man

Guido W. Imbens, applied econometrics professor and professor of economics at Stanford Graduate School of Business, was awarded the 2021 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences 2021. He is pictured here with his family. Courtesy photo

BRINGING HIS RESEARCH TO THE CLASSROOM

In his classrooms, Imbens students get experience in both conducting social science experiments and analyzing observational data like the kinds discussed in his research. Students also see the need for these kinds of skills in the companies they will join throughout their careers. 

“So, a lot of these things are very directly relevant to what they will see in businesses they might end up working for,” Imbens says. “I try to convey to my students that the way to do good methodological research is really to talk to people doing empirical work and talk to people who are doing policy so you can make sure the methodological work you’re doing is actually going to be relevant to the people analyzing the data.”

Though his schedule today has been turned on its head since his early morning phone call, Imbens hopes to be able to attend a seminar with his students early this afternoon. 

“A big part of what makes my job so fun is working with young people. In the years that I’ve been (at Stanford), more and more students are becoming interested in this type of research, and so the ability to interact with them … is such an incredible privilege,” he says. “So I hope to be able to still do that today. But, I’ve lost track of my schedule a little bit.”

TRADITION OF NOBEL LAUREATES

Stanford has a long tradition of Nobel Laureates in its ranks, with 20 living winners and 15 deceased. That list includes 11 Economic Sciences winners including Paul Milgrom and Robert Wilson who shared the Economic Sciences prize in 2020 along with Alvin Roth (2012), Thomas J. Sargent (2011), A. Michael Spence and Joseph E. Stiglitz (2001) and William F. Sharpe (1990). Deceased Economics Sciences winners are Gary Becker (1992), Milton Friedman (1976) and Douglass North (1993).

In comparison, Harvard University has 11 Economic Science Laureates in addition to 39 other Nobel winners. University of Pennsylvania, which houses the Wharton School of Business, has 7 affiliated Economic Science Laureates and 21 other laureates. 

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