Remembering Edward Prescott

Brother Edward Prescott, Swarthmore '62, passed away on Nov. 6, 2022, at the age of 81 following a battle with cancer. Prescott was one of the world's most influential economists and earned the Nobel Prize in Economics in 2004. He is one of six Delta Upsilon brothers to win a Nobel Prize.

Prescott was born Dec. 26, 1940, in Glen Falls, New York. In 1962, he earned a bachelor's degree from Swarthmore College, then earned a master's degree at Case Western Reserve University in 1963 and a Ph.D. in economics from Carnegie Mellon University in 1967.

Throughout his career, Prescott taught economics at more than a half dozen universities in addition to serving as an advisor for the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. Prescott valued research and authored numerous papers. He and co-author Finn Kydland were honored with a Nobel Prize in Economics in 2004 "for their contributions to dynamic macroeconomics: the time consistency of economic policy and the driving forces behind business cycles." Prescott and Kydland are considered the architects of the real business-cycle (RBC) theory. Prescott was also known for his work on the Hodrick-Prescott filter, which is used to smooth fluctuations in a time series.

Brother Prescott received Delta Upsilon's Dr. Linus Pauling Award of Merit in Science & Service in 2014.