The UAB awards an honorary doctorate to Timothy J. Kehoe

Timothy J. Kehoe, one of the world's leading economists in economic recessions and sovereign debt, was awarded an honorary doctorate by the UAB on 16 March at the Rectorate building. Jordi Caballé, professor of the Department of Economics and Economic History, was the sponsor.

07/03/2016

On 16 March, American economist and professor at the University of Minnesota Timothy Jerome Kehoe was awarded an honorary doctorate by the UAB at a ceremony which took place at the Auditorium (Sala d'Actes) of the Rectorate building. He was proposed for the nomination by the Faculty of Business and Economics. UAB Rector Ferran Sancho presided over the event in which Jordi Caballé, professor of the Department of Economics and Economic History, was the sponsor of the university's newest honorary doctorate.

Dr Kehoe received his PhD in Economics from the University of Yale and is well-known for his contributions in the research of dynamic economics and macroeconomics, as well as for his close ties with several institutions in Spain and Catalonia, and especially with the UAB.

Apart from the University of Minnesota, Dr Kehoe has lectured at several other American and European institutions such as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge University, the Barcelona Graduate School of Economics, and the University of California, Los Angeles. Fluent in Catalan and Spanish, Dr Kehoe is also one of the most loyal participants in the annual symposium organised by the Spanish Economic Association. He is also a former member of the editorial board of the Revista Española de Economía.

He has visited the UAB on several occasions since 1983 as visiting professor of the Faculty of Business and Economics, and gave the opening lecture for the 2012-2013 academic year. He collaborates with the MOVE (Markets, Organizations and Votes in Economics) research group and is professor of the IDEA masters and PhD programmes. He was co-director of the applied general equilibrium model (MEGA) and is member of the BGSE Scientific Council. Dr Kehoe is also consultant to the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis and has been advisor to the governments of Spain, Mexico and Panama.

Global leader

Dr Kehoe is internationally renowned for his expertise in economic recessions. According to his conclusions, recessions are often accompanied by a reduction in the productivity of productive factors and this reduction ends up causing financial crises. Together with Harold Cole, Dr Kehoe changed the way in which sovereign debt crises are studied by emphasising the possibility of induced crises based on the loss of trust in governments. Another of his essential contributions is the study of macroeconomic effects and of the welfare of free trade processes, with special attention put on the implications of the NAFTA free trade agreement between Canada, USA and Mexico.

The UAB's newest honorary doctor has published several papers in prestigious economic journals. He has also directed 74 PhD theses and occupies 29th position in the RePEc world ranking, which assesses the quality of research produced by former students.

In 1991, he was elected member of the Ecometric Society, one of the greatest honours an economist can aspire to receive. Since 1982, he has received funding from the US National Science Foundation. He is currently president of the Society of Economic Dynamics, the number one association for economists working on research in the dynamics of economics.