Christopher A. Sims, Nobel Prize-winning economist and one of the most influential macroeconomists of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, passed away on March 14, 2026, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He was 83 years old.

Born on October 21, 1942, in Washington, D.C., Sims grew up in a family shaped by his father's diplomatic career, spending his formative years across Germany, Virginia, and Connecticut before earning a B.A. in Mathematics from Harvard University in 1963 and a Ph.D. in Economics from Harvard in 1968. From early in his career, he distinguished himself as a thinker who refused to accept conventional economic wisdom without rigorous scrutiny.

Sims spent decades at the forefront of macroeconomic research, holding faculty positions at Harvard, the University of Minnesota, Yale, and finally Princeton, where he served as the Harold H. Helm '20 Professor and later the John J.F. Sherrerd '52 University Professor of Economics until his emeritus appointment in 2021. He also served as a resident scholar at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York from 2012 to 2013.

His 1980 landmark paper, Macroeconomics and Reality, published in Econometrica, introduced Vector Autoregression (VAR) models to the field — a methodology that became a cornerstone of modern empirical macroeconomics. By allowing economists to trace how shocks such as oil price shifts, policy changes, or drops in consumer demand ripple through the broader economy, Sims fundamentally changed how the discipline understood cause and effect. His later work on the Fiscal Theory of the Price Level and rational inattention further cemented his reputation as an original and fearless intellectual force.

In 2011, Sims was awarded the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, jointly with Thomas J. Sargent, "for their empirical research on cause and effect in the macroeconomy." In a characteristic act of dedication, he taught his scheduled undergraduate class at Princeton the very morning the prize was announced.

Beyond his research, Sims was celebrated as a generous and devoted mentor. Colleagues and former students remembered him as someone who challenged them to think more deeply, more honestly, and more boldly. Princeton described him as a "revolutionary macroeconomist and generous mentor" — a fitting tribute to a man whose influence extended far beyond his own published work.

He is survived by his wife, Cathie Sears Sims; his children, Jody Nelson, Nancy Sims, and Benjamin Sims; and his grandchildren, Sophie, Nathan, Natalie, and Benjamin Nelson.

Christopher Sims leaves behind a body of work that will shape economic thinking for generations, and a legacy of intellectual courage that inspired all who had the privilege of knowing him.