【Shenzhen Daily】Nobel laureate institute established
2017-06-09 09:50:43 信息来源：Shenzhen Daily
THE Sargent Institute of Quantitative Economics and Finance, headed by 2011 Nobel laureate in economics, Thomas J. Sargent, was established at the Peking University HSBC Business School (PHBS) on Thursday afternoon.
The unveiling ceremony was attended by Zhang Hu, executive vice mayor of the Shenzhen Municipal Government, Professor Hai Wen, dean of PHBS, and other government officials and faculty members as well as students of the school.
In his speech, Hai said that the establishment of the institute would significantly improve the school’s teaching and research level in the fields of economics and finance and would also increase Shenzhen’s research capability and international influence in the humanities and social sciences.
According to Hai, the institute will focus on research and education on the theory and application of quantitative economics. It will also utilize big data and cloud computing to research macro-economy, international investment and trade, energy, the environment and the economy of China as well as other countries. The institute will study the role of big data and artificial intelligence in analyzing and predicting finance, quantitative investment and asset pricing.
In addition, the institute will cooperate with local financial institutions and enterprises to help them optimize investment strategies and improve the development of the financial industry.
Hai said that one of the institute’s missions is to cultivate talents, so it will offer graduate students courses such as advanced macroeconomics, quantitative economics, computer language, quantitative economics and the application of artificial intelligence in macroeconomics.
The institute will launch a doctoral program in quantitative economics, in which Professor Sargent will be engaged. The professor will set up a course on advanced macroeconomics for doctorate candidates.
The Nobel laureate also attaches great importance to the cultivation of younger-generation talents, so short-term courses, including “Python and Economics,” will be offered to senior year students across the country during their summer and winter vacations, aiming to foster a number of future talents in economics and finance who are able to use big data and cloud computing to analyze and conduct research.
The dean mentioned that Professor Sargent would bring an international team to the institute to guide its scientific research.
In an interview with the Shenzhen Daily, Professor Sargent said, “The school has so many brilliant young talents, and I always want to teach more students in China and to work with them.”
In terms of his role at the institute, the professor said he would “teach and learn from his students and colleagues and do some study about various aspects of China.”
Sargent, 74, is an American economist who is currently the W.R. Berkley Professor of Economics and Business at New York University.
He specializes in the fields of macroeconomics, monetary economics and time series econometrics. He was awarded the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics in 2011 along with Christopher A. Sims.
来源：Shenzhen Daily（2017.6.9），记者：杨梅
（编辑：熊艾华）
