Phelps was born on July 26, 1933, in Evanston, Illinois, and he moved with his family to Hastings-on-Hudson, New York when he was six, where he spent his school years. In 1951, he went to Amherst College for … See more

After receiving his Ph.D., Phelps went to work as an economist for the RAND Corporation. However, feeling he could not pursue macroeconomics at RAND (which focused on … See more

In 1990 Phelps took part in a mission from the new EBRD to Moscow, where he and Kenneth Arrow designed a proposal for the reform of the Soviet Union. After the EBRD was established, he … See more

In 1974 Phelps married Viviana Montdor. Publications have noted that despite his many accomplishments, Phelps does not own a car. See more

In 1982, he was appointed the McVickar Professor of Political Economy at Columbia. During the early 1980s, he wrote an introductory textbook synthesizing contemporary economics knowledge. The book, Political Economy, was published in … See more

Phelps's current work is about the benefits and sources of a country's structural dynamism: the enterprise and creativity of entrepreneurs, the skill of financiers in selecting and supporting the best projects, and the knowledge managers draw upon in evaluating and … See more

In 1981 Phelps was elected to become a member of the National Academy of Science in the USA. In 2006, he was awarded the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences … See more