View source for Biography:Paul Romer

{{short description|American economist}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name                = Paul Romer
| image               = Paul Romer in 2005.jpg
| alt                 = Romer smiling
|caption = Romer in 2005
| office              = Chief Economist of the World Bank
| president           = Jim Yong Kim
| term_start          = October 2016
| term_end            = 24 January 2018 
| predecessor         = Kaushik Basu
| successor           = Shanta Devarajan {{small|(Acting)}}
| birth_name          = Paul Michael Romer
| birth_date          = {{birth date and age|1954|11|6}}
| birth_place         = Denver, Colorado, {{wipe|United States}}
| death_date          = 
| death_place         = 
| education           = [[Organization:University of Chicago|University of Chicago]] {{small|(SB, [[Social:Doctor of Philosophy|PhD]])}}<br>[[Organization:Massachusetts Institute of Technology|Massachusetts Institute of Technology]]<br>Queen's University
| awards              = Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences {{small|(2018)}}
| website             = {{URL|paulromer.net|Official website}}
| module              = {{Infobox scientist
| child             = yes
| field             = [[Finance:Economics|Economics]]
| work_institution  = [[Organization:New York University|New York University]]<br>[[Organization:Stanford University|Stanford University]]<br>UC Berkeley<br>[[Organization:University of Chicago|University of Chicago]]<br>[[Organization:University of Rochester|University of Rochester]]
| thesis_title      = Dynamic competitive equilibria with externalities, increasing returns and unbounded growth
| thesis_url        = https://search.proquest.com/docview/303206758/
| thesis_year       = 1983
| doctoral_advisor  = José Scheinkman<br>[[Biography:Robert Lucas Jr.|Robert Lucas Jr.]]
| academic_advisors = Russell Davidson<br>[[Biography:Ivar Ekeland|Ivar Ekeland]]
| doctoral_students = Sérgio Rebelo<br>Maurice Kugler
}}
}}
'''Paul Michael Romer''' (born November 6, 1955)<ref name="thesis-romer-1983" /> is an American [[Social:Economist|economist]] and [[Social:Policy entrepreneur|policy entrepreneur]] who is a University Professor in Economics at Boston College.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Paul Romer|url=https://paulromer.net/about/|access-date=2021-06-22|website=paulromer.net}}</ref> Romer is best known as the former Chief Economist of the World Bank and for co-receiving the 2018 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences (shared with [[Biography:William Nordhaus|William Nordhaus]]) for his work in [[Finance:Endogenous growth theory|endogenous growth theory]].<ref name=nobelprize>{{Cite web| title=The Prize in Economic Sciences 2018 Press Release |url=https://www.nobelprize.org/uploads/2018/10/press-economicsciences2018.pdf|work=Nobelprize.org|date=October 8, 2018}}</ref> He also coined the term "[[Mathiness|mathiness]]," which he describes as misuse of mathematics in economic research.

Before joining Boston College, Romer was a professor at [[Organization:New York University|NYU]], the [[Organization:University of Chicago|University of Chicago]], the [[Organization:University of California, Berkeley|University of California, Berkeley]], [[Organization:Stanford University|Stanford University's]] Graduate School of Business,<ref>{{cite news| title=N.Y.U. Lands Top Economist for Cities Project |work={{wipe|New York Times}} |url=https://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/05/27/n-y-u-lands-top-economist-for-cities-project | access-date=2011-05-27 | date=2011-05-27}}</ref> and the [[Organization:University of Rochester|University of Rochester]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://paulromer.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/CV-Romer-Nov.-2015.pdf|title=CV (PAUL M. ROMER)|access-date=Oct 11, 2019|archive-date=October 9, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181009013333/https://paulromer.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/CV-Romer-Nov.-2015.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://paulromer.net/|title=Paul Romer|website=paulromer.net|language=en-US|access-date=2018-10-08}}</ref> Romer was chief economist and senior vice president of the World Bank until he resigned in January 2018 following a controversy arising from his claim of possible political manipulation of {{wipe|Chile}}'s "ease of doing business" ranking.<ref name="FT2018-01-24">{{cite web|last=Donnan|first=Shawn|date=January 25, 2018|title=Outspoken World Bank chief economist Paul Romer exits: Emails reveal clashes over issues ranging from grammar to methodology|url=https://www.ft.com/content/be72f8e2-0144-11e8-9650-9c0ad2d7c5b5|website=Financial Times}}</ref><ref name=Reuters2018-01-24/> Romer took leave from his position as professor of economics at [[Organization:New York University|NYU]] when he joined the [[Organization:World Bank|World Bank]], and returned to [[Organization:New York University|NYU]] after his term. In addition, he has also been a researcher at the [[Organization:National Bureau of Economic Research|National Bureau of Economic Research]], Stanford's Center for International Development, the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research, the Hoover Institution, as well as a fellow at the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Center for Global Development.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.hoover.org/publications/hoover-digest/article/6926|title=Risk and Return|date=1996|work=Hoover Digest|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120802050537/http://www.hoover.org/publications/hoover-digest/article/6926|archive-date=2012-08-02|url-status=dead|volume=No. 2}}</ref>

==Early life and education==
Romer was born to former Colorado governor Roy Romer and Beatrice "Bea" Miller. He has four brothers and two sisters. One of his brothers, Chris Romer, is a former Colorado state senator.<ref name=atlantic>{{Cite web| title=The Politically Incorrect Guide to Ending Poverty |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2010/07/the-politically-incorrect-guide-to-ending-poverty/308134/ |work=The Atlantic|date=July–August 2010 }}</ref>

He graduated in 1973<ref>{{cite web |title=Paul Romer '73 awarded Nobel Prize in economics |url=https://www.exeter.edu/news/paul-romer-%E2%80%9973-awarded-nobel-prize-economics |website=Phillips Exeter Academy |access-date=11 April 2021 |language=en |date=8 November 2018}}</ref> from Phillips Exeter Academy. He earned his Bachelor of Science in [[Mathematics|mathematics]]<ref name=uchicago_news>{{ Cite web| title=Economist Paul Romer, SB'77, PhD'83, wins share of Nobel Prize |url=https://news.uchicago.edu/story/economist-paul-romer-sb77-phd83-wins-share-nobel-prize |work=uchicago news|date=2018-08-08 }}</ref> and a [[Social:Doctorate|PhD]] in economics in 1983,<ref name="thesis-romer-1983">{{cite thesis |title=Dynamic competitive equilibria with externalities, increasing returns and unbounded growth |date=1983 |publisher=The University of Chicago |type=Ph.D. |last=Romer |first=Paul Michael |oclc=28795806 |id={{ProQuest|303206758}}}}</ref> both from the [[Organization:University of Chicago|University of Chicago]], after graduate studies at [[Organization:Massachusetts Institute of Technology|Massachusetts Institute of Technology]] from 1977 to 1979 and at Queen's University (Kingston, Canada) from 1979 to 1980.<ref>{{cite book |first=David |last=Warsh |title=Knowledge and the Wealth of Nations |location=New York |publisher=Norton |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-393-32988-9 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780393329889/page/196 196]–201 |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780393329889 |url-access=registration }}</ref>

==Career==
Romer's most important work is in the field of economic growth, and he has made important contributions in the development of [[Finance:Endogenous growth theory|endogenous growth theory]]. He was named one of America's 25 most influential people by ''{{wipe|Time (magazine)}}'' magazine in 1997,<ref>{{cite news| title=Time's 25 Most Influential Americans | work=Time Magazine | publisher = Time Inc. |url=http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,986206-10,00.html | access-date=2007-12-21 | date=1997-04-21}}</ref> and he was awarded the Horst Claus Recktenwald Prize in Economics in 2002. In 2015, he was recipient of the John R. Commons Award, given by the economics honor society Omicron Delta Epsilon.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.omicrondeltaepsilon.org/awards.html|title = Omicron Delta Epsilon - the International Economics Honor Society}}</ref>

===Academia===
Romer's research on economic growth followed extensive studies of long-run growth during the 1950s and 1960s.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Solow |first=Robert M. |title=Perspectives on Growth Theory |journal=[[Finance:Journal of Economic Perspectives|Journal of Economic Perspectives]] |volume=8 |issue=1 |year=1994 |pages=45–54 |jstor=2138150 |doi=10.1257/jep.8.1.45|doi-access=free }}</ref> The [[Finance:Solow–Swan model|Solow–Swan model]], for example, established the primacy of technological progress in accounting for sustained increases in output per worker. His 1983 [[Thesis|dissertation]], supervised by José Scheinkman and [[Biography:Robert Lucas Jr.|Robert Lucas Jr.]], showed mathematical models of economies in which [[Engineering:Technological change|technological change]] resulted from intentional actions of people, such as research and development. It led to two ''[[Finance:Journal of Political Economy|Journal of Political Economy]]'' articles published in 1986 and 1990, which started endogenous growth theory.

Romer taught at the [[Organization:University of Rochester|University of Rochester]], the [[Organization:University of Chicago|University of Chicago]], the [[Organization:University of California, Berkeley|University of California, Berkeley]], [[Organization:Stanford University|Stanford University]] and [[Organization:New York University|New York University]]. At [[Organization:New York University|New York University]], he founded the Marron Institute of Urban Management. Its objective is to assist cities in planning its future developments, specifically improving the safety, health, and mobility of citizens.<ref name=":0" />

===Business===
Romer temporarily left academia in 2001 to found [[Finance:Aplia|Aplia]], a company which produces online problem sets for college students. Students have submitted upwards of 2.4 billion answers to homework problems on the Aplia website. Aplia was purchased in 2007 by Cengage Learning.

He is credited with the quote "A crisis is a terrible thing to waste," which he said during a November 2004 venture-capitalist meeting in California. Although he was referring to the rapidly rising education levels in other countries compared to the United States, the quote became a rallying concept for economists and consultants looking for constructive opportunities amid the Great Recession.<ref>{{cite news| url= https://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/02/magazine/02FOB-onlanguage-t.html| work=The New York Times | title= A Terrible Thing to Waste | first= Jack | last=Rosenthal | date=2009-07-31 | access-date=2011-10-09}}</ref>

===Charter cities===
Romer has attempted to replicate the success of charter cities and make them an engine of economic growth in developing countries. He promoted this idea in a [[Software:TED (conference)|TED]] talk in 2009,<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSHBma0Ithk Paul Romer: Why the world needs charter cities], TED talk August 2009</ref> and he has argued that with better rules and institutions less developed nations can be set on a different and better trajectory for growth.<ref>{{cite news| url=http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/29/can-charter-cities-change-the-world-a-qa-with-paul-romer/ | work=The New York Times | title=Can "Charter Cities" Change the World? A Q&A With Paul Romer | first=Dwyer | last=Gunn | date=2009-09-29 | access-date=2010-05-22}}</ref> In his model, a host country would turn responsibility for a charter city over to a more developed trustee nation, which would allow for new rules of governance to emerge. People could "vote with their feet" for or against these rules.<ref name=atlantic/>

The government of Honduras considered creating charter cities, though without the oversight of a third-party government, which some argue is neo-colonialism.<ref name=atlantic /> Romer served as chair of a "transparency committee" but resigned in September 2012 when the Honduran government agency responsible for the project signed agreements with international developers without involvement of the committee.<ref>{{cite news|title=Plan for Charter City to Fight Honduras Poverty Loses Its Initiator|date=30 September 2012|newspaper=New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/01/world/americas/charter-city-plan-to-fight-honduras-poverty-loses-initiator.html?_r=0}}</ref>

===World Bank===
He became World Bank Chief Economist in October 2016. He resigned on 24 January 2018,<ref name=FT2018-01-24/><ref name=Reuters2018-01-24/> following a controversy in which he stated in an interview with ''{{wipe|The Wall Street Journal}}'' on January 12,<ref name=WSJ2018-01-12>{{cite news|author1=Josh Zumbrun|author2=Ian Talley|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/world-bank-unfairly-influenced-its-own-competitiveness-rankings-1515797620|title=World Bank Unfairly Influenced Its Own Competitiveness Rankings|publisher=Wall Street Journal|date=12 January 2018|access-date=8 October 2018}}</ref><ref name=Reuters2018-01-24/>  that during the tenure of {{wipe|Chile}}'s socialist President Michelle Bachelet from 2014 onwards, Chile's ranking for ease of doing business had been downgraded by the [[Organization:World Bank|World Bank]] as a result of changes of methodology which he claimed may have been politically motivated,<ref name=Reuters2018-01-24>{{cite news |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-worldbank-economist-romer/world-bank-economist-paul-romer-quits-after-chile-comments-idUSKBN1FD38Y|title=World Bank economist Paul Romer quits after Chile comments|publisher=Reuters|date=24 January 2018|access-date=8 October 2018}}</ref> a claim denied by the former World Bank economist responsible for compiling Chile's ranking, Chilean economist Augusto Lopez-Claros.<ref name=BBC2018-01-15>{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-42685172|title=Chile complains of World Bank unfair treatment|publisher=BBC|date=15 January 2018|access-date=8 October 2018|quote=In an interview given to the Chilean newspaper El Mercurio, the World Bank economist who had been responsible for the rankings, Augusto Lopez-Claros, said changes in methodology "took place in a transparent and open context," denying any political bias.}}</ref><ref name=Bloomberg2018-01-13>{{cite news|author1=Oscar Medina|author2=Andrew Rosati|url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-01-13/chile-demands-answers-in-world-bank-business-ranking-controversy|title=World Bank to Probe Chile's Business Ranking After Bias Alleged|publisher=Bloomberg|date=13 January 2018|access-date=8 October 2018|quote=Chilean economist Augusto Lopez-Claros, who was in charge of compiling Chile’s ranking for the World Bank report, said accusations of political manipulation were “wholly without merit.”}}</ref>

===Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics===
[[File:Paul Romer EM1B6039 (46234134401).jpg|thumb|262px|Paul Romer during Nobel press conference in Stockholm, December 2018]]
Romer shared the 2018 Prize with [[Biography:William Nordhaus|William Nordhaus]].<ref>{{cite news | last = Appelbaum | first = Binyamin | title = 2018 Nobel in Economics Awarded to William Nordhaus and Paul Romer | newspaper = The New York Times | date = October 8, 2018 | url = https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/08/business/economic-science-nobel-prize.html}}</ref> In choosing Romer as one of the 2018 economics laureates, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences stated that he had shown "how knowledge can function as a driver of long-term economic growth. . . . [Prior macroeconomic studies]  had not modelled how economic decisions and market conditions determine the creation of new technologies. Paul Romer solved this problem by demonstrating how economic forces govern the willingness of firms to produce new ideas and innovations."<ref name=nobelprize />

After receiving the prize, Romer described how he started thinking about the relationship between growth and innovation:
"The question that I first asked was, why was progress . . . speeding up over time? It arises because of this special characteristic of an idea, which is if [a million people try] to discover something, if any one person finds it, everybody can use the idea."<ref>{{cite news | last1 = Kiernan | first1 = Paul | last2 = Sugden | first2 = Joanna | title = Two Top U.S. Economists Win Nobel for Work on Growth and Climate: Research of William D. Nordhaus and Paul M. Romer has had immense impact on global policy making, the Academy says | newspaper = The Wall Street Journal | date =  October 8, 2018 | url = https://www.wsj.com/articles/nobel-in-economics-goes-to-american-pair-1538992672}}</ref>

The same day he received the award, Romer married Caroline Weber, a professor of French Literature at Barnard College.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/11/fashion/weddings/paul-romer-wins-nobel-prize-and-marries-on-same-day.html|title=Arts Meets Science and Chemistry Wins the Day|first=Vincent M.|last=Mallozzi|date=Dec 11, 2018|access-date=Oct 11, 2019|newspaper=The New York Times}}</ref>

==Publications==
* "Growth Cycles", with George Evans and Seppo Honkapohja ([[Finance:American Economic Review|American Economic Review]], June 1998). {{JSTOR|116846}}
* "Preferences, Promises, and the Politics of Entitlement" (Individual and Social Responsibility: Child Care, Education, Medical Care, and Long-Term Care in America, Victor R. Fuchs (ed.), Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1995).
* "New Goods, Old Theory, and the Welfare Costs of Trade Restrictions," Journal of Development Economics, No. 43 (1994), pp.&nbsp;5–38.
* "Looting: The Economic Underworld of Bankruptcy for Profit" with George Akerlof (Brookings Papers on Economic Activity 2, William C. Brainard and George L. Perry (eds.), 1993, pp.&nbsp;1–74). {{JSTOR|2534564}}
* "Economic Integration and Endogenous Growth," with Luis Rivera-Batiz (Quarterly Journal of Economics CVI, May 1991, pp.&nbsp;531–55). {{JSTOR|2937946}}
* "Endogenous Technological Change" ([[Finance:Journal of Political Economy|Journal of Political Economy]], October 1990). {{JSTOR|2937632}}
* "Increasing Returns and Long Run Growth" (Journal of Political Economy, October 1986). {{JSTOR|1833190}}
* "Cake Eating, Chattering and Jumps: Existence Results for Variational Problems" (Econometrica 54, July 1986, pp.&nbsp;897–908). {{JSTOR|1912842}}

==See also==
* [[Finance:Endogenous growth theory|Endogenous growth theory]]
* [[Social:Good governance|Good governance]]
* [[Finance:Special economic zone|Special economic zone]]
* [[Mathiness]]

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==External links==
*[http://paulromer.net/ Paul Romer's web site]
*{{Nobelprize}} including his Prize Lecture 8 December 2018 ''On the Possibility of Progress''

{{s-start}}
{{s-dip}}
{{s-bef|before=Kaushik Basu}}
{{s-ttl|title=Chief Economist of the World Bank|years=2016–2018}}
{{s-aft|after=Shanta Devarajan<br>{{small|Acting}}}}
{{s-end}}

{{Nobel laureates in economics 2001–2025}}
{{2018 Nobel Prize winners}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Romer, Paul}}
[[Category:American Nobel laureates]]

{{Sourceattribution|Paul Romer}}