Peter Reinhard Hansen has been named as the third recipient of the Henry A Latané Distinguished Professorship of Economics In the Department of Economics. He previously held academic positions at Brown University, Stanford University, and the European University Institute in Florence, Italy. Professor Hansen holds a Master’s of Science in Mathematics and Economics from the University of Copenhagen and a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of California at San Diego.
Professor Hansen conducts research in time-series econometrics, with special attention to forecasting and financial volatility. He has developed methods for comparing and selecting forecasting models, and has introduced novel estimators of volatility that draws on high-frequency financial data. Recently he introduced a class of volatility models, known as the Realized GARCH framework, that won the Richard Stone Prize in Applied Econometrics in 2014.
Professor Hansen has featured on the Thomson Reuters’ list of the World’s Most Influential Scientific Minds in 2014, 2015, and most recently in 2016 as one out of 70 economists worldwide.
Henry A. Latané received his Ph.D. in economics from UNC-Chapel Hill in 1958. In 1960, he was appointed professor of economics in the College of Arts and Sciences and professor of finance in the School of Business. In 1969, he was the first recipient of the Meade H. Willis Professorship in Investment Banking. Latané was a pioneer in the rigorous numerical analysis of financial decision-making. He retired in 1980 and died in 1984.