Death of Edmund Phelps, Nobel laureate in economics and a major figure in macroeconomics

American economist Edmund Phelps, winner of the 2006 Nobel Prize in Economics, died on May 15 at the age of 92. Considered one of the most influential thinkers in modern macroeconomics, he leaves behind a body of work that has profoundly shaped our understanding of the links between inflation, unemployment, and economic growth.

Born in 1933 in Evanston, Illinois, Edmund Phelps devoted most of his academic career to Columbia University, where he taught for over half a century. His work earned him the Nobel Prize in Economics in 2006 for "his analysis of intertemporal trade-offs in macroeconomic policy," particularly concerning the relationships between inflation, wages, and unemployment.

The theorist of the natural rate of unemployment

In the late 1960s, he notably contributed to challenging the idea that there was a lasting trade-off between inflation and unemployment. His research on the expectations of economic agents and the concept of the natural rate of unemployment profoundly influenced the monetary policies of central banks worldwide.

Beyond his academic work, Edmund Phelps was also interested in innovation, entrepreneurship, and economic dynamism. In several books, he argued that prosperity depends as much on creativity and individual initiative as on economic institutions themselves.

Farewell to a giant of the modern economy

The international economic community paid him numerous tributes. Columbia University hailed the passing of a "giant of modern economics," highlighting the lasting influence of his work on several generations of researchers and public policymakers.

With the passing of Edmund Phelps, economics loses one of its most influential thinkers of the last half-century. His intellectual legacy, however, continues to inform contemporary debates on inflation, employment, growth, and public policy.