Robert Townsend, University of Chicago
This annual event honors Simon Kuznets, the famous Belarusian-American economist who helped establish the Yale Economic Growth Center in 1961.
Robert M. Townsend is a leading development economist. His recent work focuses on analyzing the role and impact of financial systems on developing economies by studying applied general equilibrium models and contract theory.
Townsend’s contributions in economic theory include the role of financial intermediaries in general equilibrium Arrow-Debreu models; the revelation principle; the costly state verification approach; optimal multi-period contracts; decentralization of economies with private information; money with spatially separated agents; financial institutions and economic growth; and forecasting the forecasts of others. His econometrics research includes the study of risk and insurance in developing countries.