| Username |
Post |
| ashu |
Posted
on 26-Apr-03 05:41 PM
April 26, 2003
Provocative Economist at Chicago Awarded Prize
(from NYT)
By DANIEL ALTMAN
Steven D. Levitt, a professor at the University of Chicago, was awarded the John Bates Clark medal by the American Economic Association yesterday. The prize, which is given every two years, recognizes him as the leading economist under age 40 in the United States.
Professor Levitt has studied the economics of crime and urban areas for most of his career. His methods for isolating cause-and-effect relationships arguably the most difficult problem in applied economics have also won him wide admiration in his field.
"Steve is exceptional for his choice of questions," said Joshua D. Angrist, a professor of economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. And, he added, "he's just one of the outstanding empiricists of his generation."
Provocative subject matter has given Professor Levitt a higher public profile than most academics. For example, a paper, "The Impact of Legalized Abortion on Crime," which he wrote with John J. Donohue III of Stanford University's law school, created a stir by implicitly suggesting that the elimination of unwanted pregnancies helps to reduce the population of would-be criminals.
The authors attributed some of the decrease in crime rates during the 1990's a development often credited to better policing methods to the Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion.
Another article, "An Economic Analysis of a Drug-Selling Gang's Finances" written with Sudhir Alladi Venkatesh of Columbia University, bridged the gap between sociology and economics. It analyzed the hierarchy of a street gang, and how members' earnings corresponded to their ranks and the gang's market power in selling drugs.
Professor Levitt, 35, graduated summa cum laude in economics from Harvard and completed his doctorate at M.I.T. He returned to Harvard as a junior fellow, a prestigious research position with no teaching responsibilities, in 1994. Three years later he joined the faculty at Chicago. He is currently visiting Stanford, where he could not be reached for comment.
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| Kumar Prasad Upadhyay |
Posted
on 26-Apr-03 09:53 PM
Ashu-ji:
Levitt clearly has an impressive resume, and the kind of applied economic research he does look very interesting as well. I was wondering if you knew him personally while an undergrad at Harvard. Based on my understanding of the age-group you belong to, you would have be a couple of years junior to him..
KPU
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| ashu |
Posted
on 26-Apr-03 10:36 PM
KPU,
Yes, Levitt's resume is very impressive.
I have downloaded some of his papers, and will be reading them during the two-day Nepal Bandhs which start from tomorrow (Monday).
I did NOT know Levitt personally, though some of his classmates were and are my friends too, through the then International Students' Association. Age-wise, I am
about 4 years junior to him.
(That said, apropos nothing, I greatly enjoyed taking undergrad and grad-level courses in economics, but, with many academic interests, decided that a focussed PhD was really NOT for someone with my temperament . . . not yet, anyway. And so, these days, in my spare time, I just enjoy keeping up with economics research news from the sidelines, and that gives me quiet joy . . . hence this news about Levitt on sajha.com)
Then again, on a modest note, ahem, these days, as I read various publications (journals and general-interest magazines and newspapers) I frequently come across
the names of many [American] professors, acquaintances, friends, classmates and dormmates I knew from the good ole Cambridge, Mass. days . . .
The world's getting smaller, no? :-)
oohi
ashu
ktm,nepal
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| Nepali Kanchi |
Posted
on 27-Apr-03 04:30 AM
Ashu ji , "not yet, anyway" re? Asti samma chahi, you were saying "never" Phd garni , hoina ra? :)
Nepal ought to have awards that recognize young professionals, hoina? Is there even an award that recognizes economists in Nepal?
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| ashu |
Posted
on 27-Apr-03 09:28 AM
Nepali Kanchi,
Some of my good friends are (assistant) professors in the US.
They get to read what they want, write what they want, enjoy free access to libraries and the school gym. They get a decent salary, and get three months off in summer,
and a month off in winter.
In addition, living in liberal, cosmopolitan college towns (Amherst, Mass; Ann Arbor, Michigan; New York, New York, etc), they have access to good movie theaters, good bookstores, good theater-production houses, good record stores, good jazz bars, decent restaurants, and they get invited to conferences to cool places like Turin,
Italy and Sydney, Australia . . .
(Now that my youngest and the 4th brother wll be away for higher studies later this year, and with that my responsibilities as 'thulo dai' are over in my family . . . on
certain days, I sit down and think: Hey, maybe I should be really get serious about
being a college professor someday !! :-)
Let's see how things go . . . up and down, flowing with the times.
oohi
ashu
ktm,nepal
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