Nancy Stokey

Nancy Laura Stokey(born May 8, 1950) has been the Frederick Henry Prince Distinguished Service Professor ofEconomicsat theUniversity of Chicagosince 1990 and focuses particularly on mathematical economics while recently conducting research about Growth Theory, economic dynamics, and fiscal/monetary policy.She earned her BA in economics from theUniversity of Pennsylvaniain 1972 and her PhD fromHarvard Universityin 1978, under the direction of thesis advisorKenneth Arrow.She is a Fellow of the Econometric Society, theAmerican Academy of Arts and Sciencesand theNational Academy of Sciences.She previously served as a co editor ofEconometricaand was a member of the Expert Panel of the Copenhagen Consensus. She received her Honorary Doctor of Laws (L.L.D) in 2012 from the University of Western Ontario.

Nancy Stokey
Born	Nancy Laura Stokey (1950-05-08)May 8, 1950 United States
Spouse	Robert Lucas Jr. ​ (died2023)​
Academic career
Field	Mathematical Economics
Institution	University of Chicago
Alma mater	Harvard University(PhD) University of Pennsylvania(BA)
Doctoral advisor	Kenneth Arrow

Author

Stokey has published significant research in the areas of economic growth and development, as well as papers on economic history ( "A Quantitative Model of the BritishIndustrial Revolution:1780–1850, "2001)andoptimal control( "Dynamic Programming with Homogeneous Functions," 1998, co-authored withFernando Alvarez). She is the co-developer, withPaul Milgrom,of theno-trade theorem,a counter-intuitive development of the premises offinancial economics.She co-authored withRobert Lucas, Jr.andEdward Prescotta book onRecursive Methods in Economic Dynamicsthat is widely used by research economists and graduate students. Stokey worked withPaul Milgromto publish "Information, Trade, and Common Knowledge" (1982), which established that information-based trade is not possible for rational agents with common knowledge. This work contributed to be one of the pillars of modern finance.

Stokey has also written articles that explain the "wait and see model", which describes investment decisions that firms who face a one-time tax policy will endure.As well as the author ofThe Economics of Inaction(2009) which treats models that involve fixed costs of adjustment.

Stokey has written critically about how the United Nations allocates funds for international economic development and humanitarian aid.

Stokey coauthored "Optimal Monetary and Fiscal Policy" which was one of the first papers to examine the time consistency of macroeconomic policy and to demonstrate the importance of central banks following rules.

Her recent research is on growth theory, economic dynamics, and fiscal and monetary policy.Her recent work include "Specific Technical Change, Trade Dynamics, and the Evolution of Skill Premia" and "Monetary Shocks in an Economy with Circulating Capital."

She is currently working on "Technology, Skill, and Long-Run Growth" (June 2017), "Technology, Skill, and the Wage Structure" (June 2017), "The Race Between Technology and The Human Capital" (2014), and "Liquidity Crises: Understanding Sources and Limiting Consequences" with Robert E. Lucas Jr.

Professional experience

Stokey has taught and worked in various institutions. She was an economics professor at Northwestern University since 1978, from assistant professor to department chairman in 1987. She also taught economics as a visiting lecturer at Harvard University in the fall of 1982, at University of Minnesota in spring of 1983, and then at University of Chicago in 1983–1984. Since 1990, she has been teaching economics at University of Chicago.Aside from teaching, she was a visiting scholar of the Research Department at Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis for eight falls in the 2000s.She was awarded the 2021CME Group-MSRIPrize.

Memberships

Stokey is a member of theNational Academy of Sciencesand was a vice-president of theAmerican Economic Associationbetween 1996 and 1997. She has been a member of the American academy of Arts and Sciences since 1993, and a member of the National Academy of Sciences since 2004. She was also a member of the expert panel convened to produce aCopenhagen Consensuson some of the leading scientific/developmental problems of the 21st century. She has held editorial positions with top journals asEconometrica,The Journal of Economic Growth, Games and Economic BehaviorandThe Journal of Economic Theory."She has made fundamental contributions in microeconomics, economic theory, finance, and in macroeconomics, with a particular focus on the impact of whether or not economic agents have commitment power."

She was married to Nobel Prize Winner in Economics laureateRobert Lucas Jr.until his death in 2023.

Publications

• Stokey, Nancy, Robert Lucas and Edward Prescott (1989).Recursive Methods in Economic Dynamics.Harvard University Press.ISBN978-0-674-75096-8.{{cite book}}:CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
• Stokey, Nancy & Paul Milgrom (1982)."Information, Trade and Common Knowledge"(PDF).Journal of Economic Theory.26:17–27.doi:10.1016/0022-0531(82)90046-1."Wait-and-See: Investment Options under Policy Uncertainty,"Review of Economic Dynamics,21 (2016), pp. 246–6
• "Wait-and-See: Investment Options under Policy Uncertainty,"Review of Economic Dynamics,21 (2016), pp. 246–65.
• "Catching Up and Falling Behind,"Journal of Economic Growth,20 (2015), pp. 1–36.
• "Introduction to Dynamic General Equilibrium,"with Edward C. Prescott and Lee Ohanian,Journal of Economic Theory,144 (6) (2009), pp. 2235–46.
• "Moving Costs, Nondurable Consumption, and Portfolio Choice,"Journal of Economic Theory,144 (6) (2009), pp. 2419–39.
• "A Two-Person Game of Information Transmission,"with Jerry R. Green,Journal of Economic Theory,July 2007, pp. 90–104.
• "Giving Aid Effectively," 2005 Annual Report Issue ofThe Region,Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis.
• "'Rules versus Discretion' after Twenty-five Years,"NBER Macroeconomics Annual 2002,pp. 9–45.
• "A Quantitative Model of the British Industrial Revolution, 1780-1850,"Carnegie-Rochester Conference Series on Public Policy,55 (2001), pp. 55–109.
• "Dynamic Programming with Homogeneous Functions,"with Fernando Alvarez,Journal of Economic Theory,82 (September 1998), pp. 167–189.
• "Shirtsleeves to Shirtsleeves: The Economics of Social Mobility,"Frontiers of Research in Economic Theory: The Nancy L. Schwartz Memorial Lectures 1983-1997,D. Jacobs, E. Kalai, and M. Kamien, eds., Cambridge University Press, 1998.
• "Are There Limits to Growth?,"International Economic Review,39 (February 1998), pp. 1–31.

External links

• Nancy Stokey'shomepageat the University of Chicago website
• "Nancy Stokey".JSTOR.
• "Nancy Stokey".EconPapers.