Perhaps his most important effect has been within the field of development economics, which focuses on the economies of poor countries

Justin Wolfers: Why Angus Deaton deserved the economics Nobel

I wish I knew where the economy will be heading next year. If I did, I might become rich. But, alas, I don't - and even if we don't always acknowledge it, no economists do.Too much uncertainty clouds the crystal ball to be confident that any particular course of events will play out in the real world. But we do know something about the sources of that uncertainty, and in a season for sharing, I'd like to offer six questions whose eventual resolution will shape the economic year ahead:How much slack really remains in the labor market?The unemployment rate stands at 5.8 per cent. If it continues on its current trajectory, it will have fallen an additional half a percentage point by mid-2015, putting it at a level that some economists see as effectively full employment.Yet much of the reduction in unemployment reflects a decline in the share of the population in the work force. If a stronger economy were to induce these people to return to work, the recovery would still have a long way to

Justin Wolfers

Justin Wolfers

Justin Wolfers

Justin Wolfers: Why Angus Deaton deserved the economics Nobel

US big economic unknowns of 2015, from unemployment to oil