An Economic Honor

Noting the “breadth, depth and originality of his many contributions, and for the often breathtaking clarity with which he reconstructs his insights in the minds of his readers,” the American Economic Association has recognized UC Santa Barbara’s Theodore C. Bergstrom with the Award of Distinguished Fellow.

“Ted Bergstrom is a scholar’s scholar, and a teacher’s teacher,” the association continued.

“The list of past winners is a ‘who’s-who’ and Ted Bergstrom is an obvious choice,” said Peter Rupert, professor and chair of the UCSB Department of Economics. “His work spans many areas in economics and his writing is always deep, clear and important. We are, indeed, fortunate to have Ted as a member of our department, and we all have become better economists through interactions with him. This prestigious award is simply a recognition of his influence in the profession.”

The Award of Distinguished Fellow was established in 1965 to recognize economists of high distinction in the United States and Canada. No more than four fellows may be elected in any one calendar year.

“Looking at the list of other economists who have received this award, I am surprised and delighted to be among them,” said Bergstrom, who holds the Cherie and Aaron Raznick Chair in Economics at UCSB. “I doubt that I deserve it, but I don’t think it would be polite to point this out to the American Economics Association.”

Bergstrom joined the faculty at UCSB in 1997 following appointments at the University of Michigan and Washington University. He is a specialist in pure and applied microeconomic theory; public finance; welfare economics; resource economics; health economics; international trade game theory; evolutionary theory and economic anthropology.

He is the author of numerous scholarly articles that have appeared in such prestigious journals as the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, American Economic Review and the Scandinavian Journal of Economics.

Also a Fellow of the Econometric Society, Bergstrom has received many honors and awards, including an honorary doctorate from Uppsala University in Sweden and the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition (SPARC) Innovator Award presented by the Association of Research Libraries.