Lars Peter Hansen American economist and econometrician. Date of Birth: 26.10.1952 Country: USA

1. Biography of Lars Peter Hansen
2. Education and Early Career
3. Achievements and Awards
4. Contributions and Research
5. Personal Life

Biography of Lars Peter Hansen

Lars Peter Hansen is an American economist and econometrician, best known as one of the creators of the Generalized Method of Moments (GMM), which helped bridge the gap between economic theories and empirical data. He was born on October 26, 1952, in Champaign, Illinois.

Education and Early Career

Hansen completed his bachelor's degree in Mathematics and Political Science at Utah State University in 1974. He then earned his Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Minnesota in 1978. Afterward, Hansen served as an assistant professor at the University of Chicago and later joined the Chicago University in 1981. He became a member of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States during this time.

Achievements and Awards

In 1984, Lars Peter Hansen shared the Frisch Medal with Kenneth Singleton. He received the Erwin Plein Nemmers Prize in Economics in 2006 and the Group-MSRI Prize for innovative applications of quantitative research in 2008. In 2011, he was awarded the prize in economics, finance, and management for his fundamental contributions to the understanding of how economic agents cope with risks and changes in the environment.

Contributions and Research

Hansen is well-known for his work in econometric modeling, particularly the Generalized Method of Moments. He has authored or co-authored papers applying GMM to analyze economic models in various fields, including labor economics, international finance, finance in general, and macroeconomics. Hansen is also one of the editors of the journals "Advances in Economics and Econometrics" and "Handbook of Financial Econometrics." Together with Ravi Jagannathan, he derived the theorem known as the "Hansen-Jagannathan bound." His timely research with Jose Scheinkman focuses on studying long-term risks, and his other works delve into the representative agent model. Hansen co-authored the book "Robustness" with Thomas J. Sargent, which explores the implications of robust control theory for macroeconomic modeling.

Personal Life

Lars Peter Hansen is married and has one son who was born in 1992. He is the younger brother of Ted Howard Hansen, an influential immunologist from Washington University in St. Louis. Currently, Hansen is interested in studying how macroeconomic fluctuations and growth are reflected in the valuation of securities.