The Nobel Prize in economics was awarded to Tom Sargent at NYU and Chris Sims at Princeton. Sargent’s work has helped us understand the impact of permanent changes in economic policy. Sim’s research has helped us measure the effect of temporary changes, or shocks, on the economy. Sims said he was going to keep his half of the $1.5 million prize money in cash for a while. I did not pick either to win.