2007-9-17

Growth

Edmund S. Phelps was born in Evanston, Illinois in 1933 when USA were at the bottom of the Great Depression and both his parents lost their jobs. Also,Keynesianism, whose policy implication was that it was the most popular method to save economy via government intervention, was formed at that time
In 1951, Edmund S. Phelps entered Amherst College to begin his university life. During the first year of his university life, he was attracted by Plato, Hume and so on and had a strong interest in philosophy. However,being influenced by his father who majored in economics and his mother who was a major of household management, he began to learn economics. During study of economics in university, Edmund S. Phelps'unique excellence gradually appeared.
As a beginner,he acutely found the distinction between macroeconomics and microeconomics and generated a strong interest in how to make the two correlate with each other. This interest led him to introduce microeconomics into macroeconomics created by Keynes and became a leader of researching Keynesianism. 
Because Yale University played an increasing role of studying economics at that time and provided attractive scholarship, Edmund S. Phelps chose to study there. He leaned after James Tobin who he had admired for a long time.
During this period, excellent intelligence and instruction of James Tobin, Thomas Schelling, Arthru Okun benefit him a lot. Edmund S. Phelps was also influenced deeply by some middle European economists and had a deep impression on the predictions to which these economists had attached great importance.
After receiving doctor's degree in literature and philosophy of Yale University, Edmund S. Phelps came to Los Angelis and began his first job in RAND Corporation. However, he found later that the environment there was not in consistency with his expectation of making study. Cowles Foundation of Yale University provided a very scarce academic position just at that time. Hence, he returned to Yale University in 1960.
In this period,he presented the "gold section"of economic growth which was regarded as an important development of study on economic growth route initiated by Robert Solow. During this time,Edmund S. Phelps was invited by MIT for interview during 1962 and 1963 as a reward for his research. Edmund S. Phelps had already become a world-wide well known economist in just few years.
In 1966, he left Yale university to University of Pennsylvania and began his new academic study career. He made a great many achievements during the late 1960s. According to Edmund S. Phelps' memory,he was just like a container which continuously leaked ideas during that beginning yeas of career. 
During this period, he established and developed series of models, criticised and developed Phillips Curve. Edmund S. Phelps had interest in Phillips Curve firstly in theory during the summer of 1966 and the first months he entered University of Pennsylvania. His famous thesis Optimal Employment Dynamic with Phillips Curve, Inflation Expectation and Time Change was finished in this winter, published next year and attracted great attention.
With breakdown of his first marriage and endless interference of individual life, his academic career also came to a bottom. In the winter of 1971, Edmund S. Phelps entered Department of Economics, Columbia University. This was the third time that he changed his job and began a new stage again.He stayed there for 8 years.
He encountered his second wife Viviana Montdor there and married her in 1974. After stabling his individual life,Edmund S. Phelps entered a productive period of academic study again.
During this time, he made broad research on economic equality, rigidity of labour market structure, currency policy of ideal prediction, non-uniform salary or price setting, implicit contract under asymmetry information and reasonable expectation and so on.
In 1980s,he intended to take notes of significant economic issues by means of a inductive textbook. In spring of 1985, his Political Economy was published. In 1990,Edmund S. Phelps arranged his understanding of research status and development of macroeconomics cumulated for many years and published the book- Seven Schools of Macroeconomic Thought. This was also thought to be a summary of his periodical achievements of academic research.
At the beginning of his 60 years old, he wrote a biography to summarize and review his work. It is a pleasure to review the achievements and also a satisfaction to see that these achievements can make an influence on others. He felt that his career entered a peaceful stage.
In his opinion, academic influence is not the main part of his achievements, while reward from others,especially that from work it the most important evaluation principle. Hence,he could choose task in accordance with his own preference instead of other's thought.

Related links
Looking for "China's curve"

It commanded popular support that Edmund S. Phelps won the Nobel Prize.The winner of Nobel Prize 2004 also made a research on macroeconomics. Zhang Haiyu, who is director of financial centre, Economic System and Management Institute, National Development and Reform Commission, said, macroeconomics is a hot research of economics currently. It is urgent to make an explosive study of macroeconomics because microeconomics is becoming increasingly complicated. The explosive study made by Phelps in this field rewarded him a title of "creator of modern macroeconomics". 
For evaluation of Phelps'study of macroeconomics, Zhang Haiyu thought that,firstly, his research was broad, including employment, inflation and deflation, banking,public debt,taxes, equity between generations,price, wage, actions of micro-corpus, formation of capital, fiscal and currency policy and economic growth in which he had made great achievements. In addition, Phelps could think outside "macroeconomics"itself and combine behaviour of micro-corpus with macroeconomics. Zhang Haiyu said,this surpassed the previous thinking mode of macroeconomics. 
However, this research mode is scarce in current study of macroeconomics in China. In Zhang Haiyu's opinion, current study of macroeconomics in China is still focusing on data analysis and economic predication, without researching deeply. Hence, it will make macroeconomic policies lack foundation and be short of systematic explanation from basic economic reality to macro-level policy selection.
In revolution of social economy, China need explosive study of macroeconomics more urgently,so as to establish macroeconomic model for China,including wage curve, consumption curve,even periodical economic growth curve,and not only to predict whether the economy grows too fast or too slow,but also to make research on the economic growth stage and find out the reason and principle for interaction of micro-economy and macro-economy. 
In 2002,Edmund S. Phelps came to Renmin University of China to take lectures. Zhang Haiyu said that he is very active and explained the description of economic phenomena in simple terms.