Edward C. Prescott shares the 2004 Nobel Prize in Economic Science with Finn E. Kydland from Carnegie Mellon University and the University of California at Santa Barbara for his contributions to their theory on business cycles and economic policies. Prescott is the W. P. Carey Chair of Economics in the W. P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University and is also a senior monetary advisor at the Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank. Known for his seminal work on business cycles, economic development, policy analysis, general equilibrium theory, and finance, he is also the co-author of Barriers to Riches which argues that discrepancies in the standards of living across countries can be attributed to barriers that some countries have built to impede the adoption of readily available productivity-enhancing technologies.