Lucas, Robert Emerson, Jr.

Lucas, Robert Emerson, Jr.,

1937–, American economist, b. Yakima, Wash., Ph.D. Univ. of Chicago, 1964. Lucas taught at Carnegie Mellon Univ. (1963–74) before joining the faculty at the Univ. of Chicago in 1975. He is noted for applying the rational expectations hypothesis to macroeconomics and other fields, doing pioneering work on employment and business cycles and creating the field of rational expectations econometrics, and for arguing that the proper way to create macroeconomic models was by aggregating microeconomic models. Lucas also has done work in investment theory, financial economics, monetary theory, international finance, and economic growth theory. Among his works is Studies in Business-Cycle Theory (1981). He was awarded the 1995 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Science for transforming macroeconomic analysis through his development and application of rational expectations.