Jerry Hausman, Clark Medalist 1985

Citation on the Occasion of the Presentation of the Medal

Jerry Hausman is an extraordinary applied econometrician. His innovative use of econometric methods and economic theory in public finance, labor economics, and energy has changed empirical work in these fields. He has developed techniques that are now in the toolbox of every applied economist: Tests for the exogenicity of right-hand side variables in a regression, exact welfare calculations from econometric demand functions, and the treatment of nonlinear budget constraints arising from income tax and income maintenance programs. His empirical findings are provocative and illuminating. He has challenged conventional wisdom on the incidence of taxes on labor supply and on savings and investment decisions. His finding of high discount rates in consumer appliance purchase decisions has forced a reevaluation of the economic effects of mandatory efficiency standards. His interweaving of economic theory and statistics to form powerful tools for analysis of economic problems is an example to us all.