Finn E. Kydland

Kydland fell into his academic career by accident. His choices are atypical, if not somewhat rebellious considering his background. Coming from a traditional farming family, Kydland’s father had been the first to break the mold and start a trucking business. Because he’d been excellent at math in school, Kydland later went on to attend the Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration. He believed he had a career in business management ahead of him, until he attended an inspiring seminar with Sten Thore. "If I hadn’t taken that seminar from him, I would have ended up with a very boring life,” he says. One can’t help but wonder if an innovative, entrepreneurial spirit like Kydland’s is even capable of choosing a boring path.

Today, Kydland is exploring the application of his theories in interdisciplinary fields by putting together a conference on the economics of Alzheimer’s disease with his wife Tonya, a neuroscientist specializing in Alzheimer’s at UC Santa Barbara. Kydland has always emphasized the importance of sharing workspace with fellow academics in a wide range of fields. In very practical terms, the outcome of this cross-pollination could bring us closer to answering some of the world’s most pressing questions, including developing new ways of treating Alzheimer’s.

Some of these questions are inherently economical. The future of Europe, for example, and how the European Union’s economies can grow again at sustainable rates. "There are deep-seated problems in those nations," he says. "And they need to focus on how they can get productivity curves to turn back up."

What’s the way out of the Southern Eurozone crisis?

"I’ve always been motivated by what I regarded as interesting questions", Kydland admits. And he’s known as a person who is "curious about questions in economics and encourages young people to do independent research," says Carlos Carriga, a colleague from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. If his students and collaborators take a moment and think, ‘Is what I’m spending my time on important?’ Kydland feels satisfied.

Even though, according to Kydland, Norwegians don’t usually feel comfortable giving advice, he does have one pearl of wisdom to offer. He suggests that his graduate students don’t read too much. He thinks this might take their thinking in the direction of academic literature and divert them from their own curious and creative path. "If you come up with something that everyone thinks is wrong but you’re completely convinced it’s correct, then it could be a big deal," he says.

While economics remains his foremost interest, throughout his life he’s accumulated a wide range of other passions, hobbies and activities, such as playing the guitar, running a mink-farm and marathons. Blues is another such passion. Going to a pub in downtown Santa Barbara with Kydland and his friends is a truly remarkable night out. Not only is Kydland at home here, as the greetings from bartenders and staff suggests he’s also very familiar with the band and its music.

It doesn’t seem to matter in that moment what Kydland does with the rest of his time, what kind of ground-breaking work he’s done and will continue to do, it’s simply an exchange of energy between the artists and their fan.

“He much prefers to be known as somebody who supports blues music,” his colleague at UC Santa Barbara Douglas Steigerwald says. “Not as a famous economist.”