Professor Sir Richard Blundell, research director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, has been named as one of Thomson Reuters’ Citation Laureates for 2015.

The award from the company recognises the publication record of Professor Blundell in economics. It is based upon the number of times other researchers have cited his papers in academic journals, as measured by one of Thomson Reuters’ products, so is a mark of continuous high-quality contributions to a field.

Each year the company uses its Web of Science platform to try and identify the most influential researchers in chemistry, physics, physiology or medicine, and economics. The timing of the Citation Laureates announcement a few weeks ahead of the Nobel prizes tends to give it a bit of a boost, though how much predictive value they have is, perhaps, arguable. 

Professor Blundell is the Ricardo Professor of Economics at UCL and Research Director at Institute for Fiscal Studies, where he is also Director of the ESRC Centre for the Microeconomic Analysis of Public Policy. His research has advanced the understanding of the impact of policy decisions on labour markets and consumer demand, particularly in how families are affected by adverse economic conditions.

The other Citation Laureates in economics are Professor John List of the University of Chicago and Professor Charles Manski of Northwestern University in the USA. The full list of laureates are contained in a Thomson Reuters press release.