Robert Shiller

Robert Shiller
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Name	Robert Shiller
Birth date	1946-03-29
Birth place	Detroit, Michigan, United States
Nationality	American
Occupation	Economist, Author, Professor
Alma mater	University of Michigan, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Known for	Behavioral finance, Asset price bubbles, Case-Shiller Index
Awards	Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences

Robert Shiller

Robert Shiller is an American economist and author noted for empirical work on financial markets, asset prices, and behavioral finance. He has served in academia and public discourse, developing influential measures and theories used by investors, central banks, and policymakers. Shiller's research spans housing markets, stock market volatility, narrative economics, and the measurement of real estate prices, and he has been awarded multiple international honors for his contributions.

Early life and education

Shiller was born in Detroit, Michigan, and raised in a family with roots in New York City and the Upper Midwest. He completed undergraduate studies at the University of Michigan and earned a Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. During his formative years he was influenced by economists and institutions such as Paul Samuelson, Robert Solow, and the intellectual climate of Cambridge, Massachusetts. His doctoral work connected him to debates taking place at the National Bureau of Economic Research and among scholars at Harvard University and Yale University.

Academic career and positions

Shiller has held faculty positions at several leading institutions, most prominently at Yale University where he is a Sterling Professor of Economics. He has also been affiliated with the Cowles Foundation, the NBER as a research associate, and has taught at the University of Pennsylvania and guest-lectured at the London School of Economics. Shiller has served on editorial boards for journals connected to the American Economic Association and has been a visiting scholar at institutions including Princeton University and Stanford University. He cofounded the index service now linked to the S&P Dow Jones Indices and has collaborated with private-sector firms and public-sector entities across Wall Street and Washington, D.C..

Research contributions and theories

Shiller's work helped to found and popularize behavioral finance, integrating insights from psychologists such as Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky into empirical finance debates. He provided influential evidence on price volatility and long-term returns by using historical data series spanning multiple centuries and countries, engaging with literature from John Maynard Keynes to Eugene Fama. Shiller developed the cyclically adjusted price-to-earnings ratio (CAPE), which is widely used alongside measures from Fama–French research and challenged assumptions of the Efficient-market hypothesis. His empirical analyses of speculative episodes drew on case studies involving the Dot-com bubble and the United States housing bubble, influencing policy discussion during the 2007–2008 financial crisis.

Shiller also created the repeat-sales home price index methodology, which underlies the widely followed Case-Shiller indices produced in partnership with Karl Case and released through Standard & Poor's. His interdisciplinary approach led to the formulation of "narrative economics," a framework emphasizing the role of popular stories in shaping economic behavior, building on traditions from scholars like Robert Putnam and Richard Thaler. Shiller's research intersects with studies of risk premia, consumption behavior, and macroeconomic expectations as discussed in work by Milton Friedman, Franco Modigliani, and John Cochrane.

Publications and popular writings

Shiller has authored and coauthored several influential books and academic articles. Major books include titles that entered broad public discourse alongside works by Thomas Piketty and Joseph Stiglitz. He wrote academic monographs and articles in journals such as the Quarterly Journal of Economics and the American Economic Review, contributing to debates on market efficiency and behavioral anomalies that also engaged authors like Richard Thaler and Robert Lucas Jr.. Shiller's public-facing books have been translated into multiple languages and discussed in forums ranging from The New York Times op-eds to lectures at the World Economic Forum in Davos. He has collaborated with market practitioners and coauthored indexes and data products used by investors and researchers at institutions such as Goldman Sachs and BlackRock.

Awards and honors

Shiller's recognitions include the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, awarded jointly with contemporaries whose work redefined asset pricing and market anomalies. He is an elected fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and has received honors from academic societies including the Econometric Society. His contributions to public policy and measurement have been acknowledged by bodies ranging from central banks to professional associations, and he has been listed among prominent public intellectuals alongside figures such as Friedrich Hayek and Amartya Sen. He has received honorary degrees from universities such as Oxford University and Cambridge University and has been invited to deliver named lectures at institutions including Columbia University.

Personal life and public engagement

Shiller is active in public discourse through op-eds, interviews, and participation in policy forums alongside leaders from Federal Reserve System discussions and international organizations such as the International Monetary Fund. He maintains involvement with nonacademic initiatives focused on housing finance and financial literacy, collaborating with nonprofit organizations and think tanks including Brookings Institution and Urban Institute. His outreach has made him a frequent commentator on broadcast outlets and at conferences hosted by institutions such as Harvard Club and Council on Foreign Relations, linking academic research to contemporary issues in markets, policy, and public debate.

Category:American economists Category:Nobel laureates in Economics