Background
Parks, Richard William was born on October 16, 1938 in Utica, New York, United States. Son of Robert W. and Josephine M. (Murphy) Parks.
Parks, Richard William was born on October 16, 1938 in Utica, New York, United States. Son of Robert W. and Josephine M. (Murphy) Parks.
AB, Harvard University, 1960. Master of Arts in Statistics, University California, Berkeley, 1964. Doctor of Philosophy in Economic, University California, Berkeley, 1966.
Assistant Professor of Economics, University Chicago, 1965-1970. Consultant, Department Planning, Government Panama, 1966-1967. Association Professor, University Washington, 1970-1978.
Visiting Professor of Economics, University Hawaii, 1972. Professor of Economics, University Washington, Seattle, Washington, United States of America, since 1978.
In a series of papers I helped to develop the econometric approach to complete systems of consumer and producer demand functions. By standardising the econometric methods, it was possible to get improved comparisons among competing demand models. I developed methods of estimation for equation systems whose errors involve both serial and cross-equation correlation and provided one of the first empirical applications of flexible functional forms.
My interest in the intertemporal aspects of consumer demand led to several papers on the economics of consumer durables. I first focussed on the determinants of optimal durability treated as a characteristic determined entirely by the manufacturer. In attempting to apply these ideas to the economic lifetimes of automobiles, I developed a model in which a good’s lifetime depends on both built-in characteristics and on the maintenance and care provided by owners.
These papers predict a lengthening of the lifetimes of existing cars as a response to attempts to regulate safety and pollution characteristics of new cars, a prediction borne out by United States experience in the mid-1970s. Using techniques whose origins lie in my earlier demand system work, I showed a mechanism by which unanticipated inflation could give rise to increased variability in relative price changes and thus to important real effects of inflation. In work with Kochin I showed that a widely-used test for the evaluation of real estate assessments was fatally flawed.
A similar error has been made in several contexts involving the evaluation of estimates. A simple modification produces a more reasonable test.
Member of Western Economic Association,., Econometric Society, American Finance Association, American Economic Association, Phi Beta Kappa.
Married Sally Litzer, July 2, 1960. Children: Alexandra, Joshua.