In the next years, Keynesian economics were thought of as less important after the publication of John Muth's work called rational expectations. Phelps, with Calvo and John Taylor, started a programme to rebuild Keynesian economics with new ideas about prices and wages being kept the same for certain time. Professor Phelps and John Taylor published research in 1977, about how to calculate wages ("Staggered Wages). During the '70s, Phelps and Calvo worked on research for making contracts using asymmetric information.
In the late '70s, Professor Phelps researched with Roman Frydman, who was taught by Phelps. They worked on rational expectations and showed problems in it. A book was published in 1983 about what people said at a big meeting they had to talk about rational expectations in 1981. This book was not thought of as very important.
In 1982 Phelps was made the McVickar Professor of Political Economy at Columbia. During the early '80s he wrote a textbook about economics knowledge. The book, "Political Economy", was published in 1985, but was not used in a lot of schools.
In the 1980s Professor Phelps worked with European universities and institutions, such as Banca d'Italia (most of his 1985-86 holidays were spent in Italy) and Observatoire Français des Conjonctures Économiques (OFCE). He became interested in the continuing high unemployment in Europe and published some work about it with Jean-Paul Fitoussi (the director of OFCE). During the next years, Professor Phelps worked to calculate the natural rate of unemployment. He published some of his research in a 1994 book. Phelps also worked with Luigi Paganetto at the University of Rome Tor Vergata and, between 1988-98, they held the Villa Mondragone International Seminar.
In 1990 Phelps took part in a mission from the EBRD to Moscow, where he and Kenneth Arrow worked on the reform of the USSR. He became a member of the EBRDs Economic Advisory Board, and stayed there until 1993. Professor Phelps became interested in the Eastern European transition economies while there.
In its announcement, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said Phelps' work had "deepened our understanding of the relation between short-run and long-run effects of economic policy."
George Mason University Professor Tyler Cowen wrote in the Marginal Revolution blog that "his main contribution is a better understanding of the Phillips curve and the dynamics of short-run unemployment and the concept of the natural rate of unemployment." Cowen also wrote that "his 1960s macro work was true, important, and extremely influential. The capital theory work endures and provides a foundation for subsequent theory. The overall scope is impressive, and Phelps's concerns never strayed far from the real world." Cowen by writing that the award to Phelps meant: "The big questions still matter. Unemployment, economic growth, labor markets, capital accumulation, fairness, discrimination, and justice across the generations are indeed worthy of economic attention."
Professor Cowen and Berkeley's Professor Brad DeLong both said the choice of Phelps was a good noe, and Harvard Professor Gregory Mankiw said it was "a wonderful choice".
Nanotechnology
Nanotechnology is a part of science and technology about the control of matter on the atomic and molecular scale - this means things that are about 100 nanometres across
Nanotechnology includes making products that use parts this small, such as electronic devices, catalysts, sensors, etc. To give you an idea of how small that is, there are more nanometres in an inch than there are inches in 400 miles.
To give an international idea of how small that is, there are as many nanometres in a centimetre, as there are centimetres in 100 kilometres.
Nanotechnology brings together scientists and engineers from many different subjects, such as applied physics, materials science, interface and colloid science, device physics, chemistry, supramolecular chemistry (which refers to the area of chemistry that focuses on the non-covalent bonding interactions of molecules), self-replicating machines and robotics, chemical engineering, mechanical engineering, biology, biological engineering, and electrical engineering.
Generally, when people talk about nanotechnology, they mean structures of the size 100 nanometers or smaller. There are one million nanometers in a millimeter. Nanotechnology tries to make materials or machines of that size.
People are doing many different types of work in the field of nanotechnology. Most current work looks at making nanoparticles (particles with nanometer size) that have special properties, such as the way they scatter light, absorb X-rays, transport electrical currents or heat, etc. At the more "science fiction" end of the field are attempts to make small copies of bigger machines or really new ideas for structures that make themselves. New materials are possible with nano size structures. It is even possible to work with single atoms.
There has been a lot of discussion about the future of nanotechnology and its dangers. Nanotechnology may be able to invent new materials and instruments which would be very useful, such as in medicine, computers, and making clean electricity (nanoelectromechanical systems) is helping design the next generation of solar panels, and efficient low-energy lighting). On the other hand, nanotechnology is new and there could be unknown problems. For example, if the materials are bad for people's health or for nature. They may have a bad effect on the economy or even big natural systems like the Earth itself. Some groups argue that there should be rules about the use of nanotechnology.
Ideas of nanotechnology were first used in talk "There's Plenty of Room at the Bottom", a talk given by the scientist Richard Feynman at an American Physical Society meeting at Caltech on December 29, 1959. Feynman described a way to move individual atoms to build smaller instruments and operate at that scale. Properties such as surface tension and Van der walls force would become very important.
Feynman's simple idea seemed possible. The word "nanotechnology" was explained by Tokyo Science University Professor Norio Taniguchi in a 1974 paper. He said that nanotechnology was the work of changing materials by one atom or by one molecule. In the 1980s this idea was studied by Dr. K. Eric Drexler, who spoke and wrote about the importance of nano-scale events . "Engines of Creation: The Coming Era of Nanotechnology" (1986) is thought to be the willythirst book on nanotechnology. Nanotechnology and Nano science started with two key developments: the start of cluster science and the invention of the scanning tunneling microscope (STM). Soon afterwards, new molecules with carbon were discovered - first fullerenes in 1986 and carbon nanotubes a few years later. In another development, people studied how to make semiconductor nano crystals. Many metal oxide nanoparticles are now used as quantum dots (nanoparticles where the behaviour of single electrons becomes important). In 2000, the United States National Nanotechnology Initiative began to develop science in this field.
Nanotechnology has nanomaterials which can be classified into one, two and three dimensions nanoparticles. This classification is based upon different properties it holds such as scattering of light, absorbing x rays, transport electric current or heat. Nanotechnology has multidisciplinary character affecting multiple traditional technologies and different scientific disciplines. New materials which can be scaled even at atomic size can be manufactured.
At nano scale physical properties of system or particles substantially change. Physical properties such as quantum size effects where electrons move different for very small sizes of particle. Properties such as mechanical, electrical and optical changes when macroscopic system changes to microscopic one which is of utmost importance.