Former Colorado Gov. Romer's Son Awarded Nobel Prize In Economics

DENVER (CBS4)- One of the winners of this year's Nobel Prize in economics is the son of former Colorado Gov. Roy Romer. Paul Romer was awarded the the 2018 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics Sciences.

Romer, New York University Stern School of Business professor, shares the honor with William Nordhaus of Yale.

In awarding the prize to Paul Romer, the Swedish Academy cited his contributions "for integrating technological innovations into long-run macroeconomic analysis."

"The real message is if you can work hard at something, you can get better at it," Paul Romer told CBS4. "People can become a genius at something by devoting their energies to it."

CBS4's Rick Sallinger spoke to former Gov. Roy Romer on Monday morning and he said, "I am really pleased for Paul as you know has been working on these theories for a long while he made a great contribution to economics."

Paul said of his father, "He was the one who modeled for me more than anyone, you just work hard."

Romer is on leave from NYU and joined NYU Stern in 2010. He founded the NYU Stern Urbanization Project a year later where he conducted applied research on the many ways that policy makers in the developing world can use the growth of cities to create economic opportunity and pursue social reform.

"The old Adam Smith supply and demand theories were expanded by his view on technology and it had a lot to do to explain the growth we've had in the last 25 years in the world," said Roy Romer.

According to the Associated Press, Romer ignored two telephone calls, thinking they were spam calls, before the Swedish Royal Academy of Sciences was able to get through to him. He said that on Monday morning "I didn't answer either because I thought it was a spam call."

"We have to keep pushing the edge and keep learning and discovering," said Paul Romer.