“”Their research clearly has had real-world applications and again illustrates how the University of California’s discoveries and innovations help us better understand our world,”” UC President and former UCSD Chancellor Robert C. Dynes said.
Robert F. Engel
Incoming Chancellor Marsha A. Chandler said that having Nobel prize recipients will increase the economics department’s public visibility.
“”This prize adds to the eminent international reputations of these extraordinary faculty and that of our department of economics,”” Chandler said.
Although they shared the award, Granger’s and Engle’s individual contributions to economics were groundbreaking, as well. Their methods “”are very well and successfully employed”” in the world of economics, according to economics professor Ross Starr.
Clive W.J. Granger
Among Granger’s discoveries in economics is the “”Granger Causality,”” where economists can sort out the relationship between two economic phenomena using variables to predict other variables. He received the Nobel for his application of “”Co-integration,”” where he combines different long-term economic patterns to create a concrete picture.
Engle’s theories in econometrics applied to financial markets gave researchers a new way to map out precisely the volatility, or random fluctuations, of an asset over time. Before, researchers used a system of analysis that assumed constant volatility instead of marking out specific points on the timeline in which there are fluctuations. Using Engle’s method, analysts could create a more accurate statistical model.
Granger graduated from the University of Nottingham with a doctorate in statistics and joined the UCSD faculty in 1974. Engle received his doctorate in economics at Cornell University and joined the faculty in 1975. Both have retired this year, but remain Professors Emeriti of UCSD. Engle is currently at New York University, while Granger is a visiting scholar at Canterbury University in New Zealand.
The last recipient of the Nobel Prize at UCSD was Paul Crutzen, who was rewarded for his work in chemistry in 1995. This is the first time the university had two Nobel recipients in the same year, let alone the same department.
“”I’m totally overwhelmed by the honor and am very pleased to share it with professor Clive Granger, my long-time UCSD colleague,”” Engle said in an Oct. 8 statement. “”There are many students over the years who have contributed to this research.””
Granger hopes his contributions to economics will be applied practically.
“”I have developed techniques that can be used by central banks and federal reserves for forecasting and policy development,”” Granger stated. “”I’m always hoping to make my research practical and useful.””
Engle’s and Granger’s reception of the awards came as no shock to economics professor Valerie Ramey.
“”Many people thought they were high on the list of Nobel laureates,”” Ramey said.
Second-year economics graduate student Lone Christiansen echoes Chandler’s belief that the economics department will be more visible.
Profs awarded Nobel
Economics professors given prize””[Engle and Granger] have had an effect on the economics department for a l
ong time,”” she said.
