Former Yale professor Christopher Sims was awarded the Nobel Prize in economic sciences on Monday.

Sims, who now works at Princeton, and Sargent won the award with New York University professor Thomas Sargent for developing methods to identify causal relationships between economic policy and macroeconomic variables.

“He has a respect for the data that I [find] refreshing,” said professor Robert Shiller, a former colleague of Sims’. Shiller added that Sims’ precise manner of speaking and quick understanding gave him the reputation of being the “smartest guy in the room.”

Sims worked at Yale from 1990 to 1999 and served as the director of graduate studies for the economics department from 1992 to 1994. While at Yale, Sims taught both macroeconomics and econometrics and had a substantial impact on both programs, said Sterling professor of economics Peter Phillips.

Sims is the third tenured Princeton faculty member to receive the Nobel Prize in economics sciences in the last decade.