PARENTE, Stephen L. 1961-

PERSONAL:

Born December 17, 1961, in Boston, MA; son of Lawrence (a civil engineer) and Ann (a homemaker; maiden name, Amoriggi) Parente; married E. Cathrine Berg (a professor of applied linguistics), July 3, 1999; children: Magnus. Ethnicity: "Italian." Education: College of the Holy Cross, B.A., 1984; University of Minnesota, Ph.D., 1990. Religion: Roman Catholic.

ADDRESSES:

Office—University of Illinois—Urbana-Champaign, 1206 South Sixth St., Champaign, IL 61820. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

U.S. Department of Justice, Washington, DC, economist, 1989-91; Northeastern University, Boston, MA, assistant professor of economics, 1991-96; University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, visiting lecturer in economics, 1996-99; University of Illinois—Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, associate professor of economics, 1999—. University of Lausanne, Walras-Pareto lecturer.

MEMBER:

American Economic Association, Society for Economic Dynamics.

WRITINGS:

(With Edward C. Prescott) Barriers to Riches, MIT Press (Cambridge, MA), 2000.

Contributor to periodicals, including Journal of Political Economy, American Economic Review, and Journal of Economic Theory.

SIDELIGHTS:

Stephen L. Parente told CA: "My book attempts to explain why some countries are so poor relative to others. In my opinion, this is the single most important question. The book is based on a series of articles written with Edward C. Prescott, dating back to 1991. When we initiated this research agenda, we had no idea that it would lead to a book. Quite frankly, we would not have started the endeavor were it not for the request from the School of Advanced Commercial Studies at the University of Lausanne in Switzerland, following an invitation to give the Walras-Pareto Lecture there. The writing of the book was more difficult than we anticipated. It proved to be a very valuable experience, because it forced us to really develop a coherent thesis for the evolution of international income levels."