Prof Sir Christopher Pissarides is a leading economist specializing in the
economics of labor markets,macroeconomic policy, economic growth and
structural change. He was awarded the 2010 Nobel Prize in Economics, jointly
with Prof Dale Mortensen of Northwestern University and Prof Peter Diamond of
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, for their work in the economics of
markets with frictions. Sir Christopher is the Regius Professor of Economics at
the London School of Economics and Political Science, Professor of European
Studies at the University of Cyprus, Chairman of the Council of National
Economy of the Republic of Cyprus, and IAS Helmut & Anna Pao Sohmen
Professor-at-Large at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.
As a world class economist focusing on
employment, could you share with us why you
chose this particular field for research? How do
you approach a question in research?
When I started my study and research, we were
experiencing for the first time rising unemployment
after the end of the Second World War. There was
so much destruction in the war that people worked
hard to reconstruct their countries in its immediate
aftermath. As a result, the unemployment rate in the
western world dropped down to 1-2%. But it started
to rise in the early 1970s, as reconstruction came to
an end and industrial growth began to slow down.
Like most other economists, I was puzzled why it
was happening and thought it would be an
important problem to explain.
IAS
CHRIS
3
IAS Chatroom
Feb 2015
