NEW YORK — January 26, 2012 — Columbia Business School is proud to announce that Andreas Mueller, Assistant Professor, Finance and Economics, was awarded the 2012 Arnbergska Prize by The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in the amount of 70,000 kronor. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences is an independent organization whose overall objective is to promote the sciences and strengthen the science’s influence in society.
The award recognizes Professor Mueller for his research on the compositional changes in the pool of unemployed workers in the United States from 1979–2008. The research presented evidence that in recessions, the pool of unemployed shifts towards high–wage workers, a finding that has not been documented previously. Professor Mueller showed that a possible explanation for these patterns is that firms face tighter borrowing constraints in recessions: they would like to keep their highly valued employees but cannot do so because these workers are too expensive relative to their current productivity.
Mueller’s research spans a broad spectrum of issues in macroeconomics and labor economics. His focus is on unemployment and, more generally, the interaction between the business cycle and labor market. He has also done extensive research on the job search behavior of unemployed workers. He received a Ph.D. from the Institute of International Economic Studies (IIES) at Stockholm University.
The Arnbergska Prize was first awarded in 1903 to chief engineer Johan August Brinell for his work concerning the properties of iron and steel. The award is named in honor of Dr. Johan Wolter Arnberg, who was elected member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in 1884 and was a lifelong supporter of progressive artists, economists, and scientists. Today the award is bestowed annually to recognize achievements in technical, economical, and statistic sciences.
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