Time: April 21, 2017;
Source: Economic and Social Research Institute
Publisher: The News Center

James J. Heckman, Nobel laureate in economics and chairman of the Consulting Committee of JNU’s Economic and Social Research Institute, has been elected Distinguished Fellow 2017 by American Economic Association. The award is conferred annually on globally recognized outstanding economists for lifetime achievements.

Heckman is the Henry Schultz Distinguished Service Professor of Economics at the University of Chicago and founder of the Human Capital and Economic Opportunity Global Working Group. He was named chairman of the Consulting Committee of JNU’s Economic and Social Research Institute on Oct. 9, 2016. As a pioneer in micro-econometrics, Heckman shared the Nobel Prize in Economics in 2000 with Daniel McFadden for contributions to the theory and method of selective sampling.

At the award ceremony, American Economic Association praised Heckman as a scholar with great influence and scientific research achievement, as well as the founder of econometrics and labor economics. He contributed not only to the research on methods in labor economics but also to all of society. “Heckman helps us reconsider the life-cycle investment model on health and human capital and change the definition of some public policies, such as the Civil Rights Act of 1964,” the association said.