
Miles Spencer Kimball is an American
economist
An economist is a professional and practitioner in the social sciences, social science discipline of economics.
The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy. Within this ...
who is currently the Eugene D. Eaton Jr. Professor of Economics at the
University of Colorado Boulder
The University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder, CU, or Colorado) is a public research university in Boulder, Colorado, United States. Founded in 1876, five months before Colorado became a state, it is the flagship university of the University o ...
. From 1987 to 2016, he was professor of economics and research professor of survey research at the
University of Michigan
The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...
. He is also a research associate of the National Bureau of Economics Research.
Biography
Kimball was born to
Edward Lawrence Kimball and Evelyn Bee Madsen Kimball on August 17, 1960. He is the grandson of
Spencer W. Kimball, the twelfth president of
the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Restorationism, restorationist Christianity, Christian Christian denomination, denomination and the ...
and great-nephew of chemist
Henry Eyring. As a high school senior, Kimball took 9th place in the
USA Math Olympiad. Kimball graduated with a bachelor's degree in
economics
Economics () is a behavioral science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services.
Economics focuses on the behaviour and interac ...
from
Harvard University
Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...
in 1982. He then received a master's degree in
linguistics
Linguistics is the scientific study of language. The areas of linguistic analysis are syntax (rules governing the structure of sentences), semantics (meaning), Morphology (linguistics), morphology (structure of words), phonetics (speech sounds ...
from
Brigham Young University
Brigham Young University (BYU) is a Private education, private research university in Provo, Utah, United States. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is the flagship university of the Church Educational System sponsore ...
in 1984. His Master's thesis was "Language, Linguistics and Philosophy: A Comparison of the Work of Roman Jakobson and the Later Wittgenstein, with Some Attention to the Philosophy of Charles Saunders Peirce." In 1987, he graduated with a Ph.D. in economics from
Harvard
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher lear ...
and won th
David A. Wells prizefor the best Harvard dissertation in economics. He became an
assistant professor
Assistant professor is an academic rank just below the rank of an associate professor used in universities or colleges, mainly in the United States, Canada, Japan, and South Korea.
Overview
This position is generally taken after earning a doct ...
at
University of Michigan
The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...
in 1987 and an
associate professor
Associate professor is an academic title with two principal meanings: in the North American system and that of the ''Commonwealth system''.
In the ''North American system'', used in the United States and many other countries, it is a position ...
in 1993. In 1999 he also became research professor at the University of Michigan's Survey Research Center. He gave the H. Chase Stone Lecture at Colorado College in 2009, held the Jon M. Huntsman Presidential Visiting Professorship at
Utah State University
in May 2011, and gave the Geneva Risk Economics Lecture in September, 2013. He gave one of two keynote speeches at the Bank of England Chief Economists' Workshop on "The Future of Money" in May 2015.
Kimball married Gail Cozzens on August 24, 1984.
Research contribution
His general areas of expertise are
macroeconomics
Macroeconomics is a branch of economics that deals with the performance, structure, behavior, and decision-making of an economy as a whole. This includes regional, national, and global economies. Macroeconomists study topics such as output (econ ...
an
cognitive economics
He is especially known for his work in the areas of
precautionary saving and survey measurement of preference parameters. Kimball (1990) first defined the prudence index to measure the intensity of the precautionary motive. He was also awarded the Samuelson Prize Certificate of Excellence for his work in survey measurement of preference parameters.
He also has published well cited articles often in the fields of labor market dynamics, and the economics of uncertainty.
He was a columnist for the online international business magazine
''Quartz'', where his column coauthored with Noah Smith, "There is one key difference between kids who excel at math and those who don't" was the second most popular article in 2013.
Interests
Kimball is a Unitarian-Universalist lay preacher after having departed from
the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Restorationism, restorationist Christianity, Christian Christian denomination, denomination and the ...
(LDS Church) around the age of 40 (circa 2000).
In 2016, Kimball began to give sustained attention to
nutrition
Nutrition is the biochemistry, biochemical and physiology, physiological process by which an organism uses food and water to support its life. The intake of these substances provides organisms with nutrients (divided into Macronutrient, macro- ...
and
fasting
Fasting is the act of refraining from eating, and sometimes drinking. However, from a purely physiological context, "fasting" may refer to the metabolic status of a person who has not eaten overnight (before "breakfast"), or to the metabolic sta ...
, arising from a personal quest to manage his own weight and health. He has collected significant resources on these topics, much of which he has made available online. He has declared Canadian nephrologist Jason Fung's book ''The Obesity Code'' (2016) to be the fifth and latest of the five books that have changed his life.
References
External links
Confessions of a Supply-Side Liberalblog. (See als
Japanese versionThai versionan
at
Research Papers in Economics
Research Papers in Economics (RePEc) is a collaborative effort of hundreds of volunteers in many countries to enhance the dissemination of research in economics. The heart of the project is a decentralized database of working papers, preprints, ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kimball, Miles
Harvard University alumni
Living people
1960 births
Brigham Young University alumni
University of Michigan faculty
20th-century American economists
21st-century American economists
University of Colorado Boulder faculty