Economics
Economics
17
17
0
Kenneth Joseph Arrow (23 August 1921 – 21 February 2017) was an American economist, mathematician, writer, and political theorist. He was the joint winner of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences with John Hicks in 1972.
In economics, he was a major figure in post-World War II neo-classical economic theory. Many of his former graduate students have gone on to win the Nobel Memorial Prize themselves. His most significant works are his contributions to social choice theory, notably "Arrow's impossibility theorem", and his work on general equilibrium analysis. He has also provided foundational work in many other areas of economics, including endogenous growth theory and the economics of information.
Arrow was born on 23 August 1921, in New York City. Arrow's mother, Lilian (Greenberg), was from Iași, Romania, and his father, Harry Arrow, was from nearby Podu Iloaiei.[6][7] The Arrow family were Romanian Jews.[8][9] His family was very supportive of his education.[10] Growing up during the Great Depression, he embraced socialism in his youth. He would later move away from socialism, but his views retained a left-leaning philosophy.[11]
He graduated from Townsend Harris High School and then earned a Bachelor's degree from the City College of New York in 1940 in mathematics, where he was a member of Sigma Phi Epsilon. He attended Columbia University, for his graduate studies. While there, he studied under Harold Hotelling, and was greatly influenced by him.[11] He received a Master's degree in 1941.[12] He served as a weather officer in the United States Army Air Forces from 1942 to 1946.[13]
In economics, he was a major figure in post-World War II neo-classical economic theory. Many of his former graduate students have gone on to win the Nobel Memorial Prize themselves. His most significant works are his contributions to social choice theory, notably "Arrow's impossibility theorem", and his work on general equilibrium analysis. He has also provided foundational work in many other areas of economics, including endogenous growth theory and the economics of information.
Arrow was born on 23 August 1921, in New York City. Arrow's mother, Lilian (Greenberg), was from Iași, Romania, and his father, Harry Arrow, was from nearby Podu Iloaiei.[6][7] The Arrow family were Romanian Jews.[8][9] His family was very supportive of his education.[10] Growing up during the Great Depression, he embraced socialism in his youth. He would later move away from socialism, but his views retained a left-leaning philosophy.[11]
He graduated from Townsend Harris High School and then earned a Bachelor's degree from the City College of New York in 1940 in mathematics, where he was a member of Sigma Phi Epsilon. He attended Columbia University, for his graduate studies. While there, he studied under Harold Hotelling, and was greatly influenced by him.[11] He received a Master's degree in 1941.[12] He served as a weather officer in the United States Army Air Forces from 1942 to 1946.[13]
Kenneth Arrow - Wikipedia
Posted from en.wikipedia.org
Birthday
Economics
WWII World War Two
American History
Edited >1 y ago
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 5
6
6
0
Kenneth Arrow's Stanford colleagues share their memories and reflect on his legacy. The Nobel Prize-winning economist passed away in February 2017 at the age...
Thank you, my friend Maj Marty Hogan for making us aware that August 23 is the anniversary of the birth American economist, mathematician, writer, and political theorist Kenneth Joseph Arrow who was the joint winner of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences with John Hicks in 1972.
Rest in peace Kenneth Joseph Arrow
Images:
1. President George W. Bush presenting Professor Arrow with the National Medal of Science at the White House in 2006.
2. 'Classic economic theories recognize public goods aspects of one kind or another - the need for economic intervention in obviously, the supply of infrastructure ...' Kenneth Arrow.
3. Kenneth Arrow and his wife the former Selma Schweitzer and David Michael with wife and Andrew Seth.
Kenneth Arrow Tribute
Kenneth Arrow's Stanford colleagues share their memories and reflect on his legacy. The Nobel Prize-winning economist passed away in February 2017 at the age of 95.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKUvbqpRYy8
1. Background from nobelprize.org/prizes/economic-sciences/1972/arrow/biographical/
"Kenneth J. Arrow
Autobiographical
I was born in the city of New York on August 23, 1921. My undergraduate education, at the City College in New York, was made possible only by the existence of that excellent free institution and the financial sacrifices of my parents. I was graduated in 1940 with a degree of Bachelor of Science in Social Science but a major in Mathematics, a paradoxical combination that was prognostic of my future interests. I entered Columbia University for graduate study and received an M.A. in Mathematics in June, 1941, but under the influence of the statistician-economist, Harold Hotelling, I changed to the Economics Department for subsequent graduate work.
My graduate study was interrupted, like that of many others, by World War II. From 1942-1946, I served as a weather officer in the United States Army Air Corps rising to the rank of Captain. My assignment was exclusively in the research field, and my first published paper, On the Optimal Use of Winds for Flight Planning, was the outgrowth of that work. The years 1946-1949 were spent partly as a graduate student at Columbia University, partly as a research associate of the Cowles Commission for Research in Economics at the University of Chicago, where I also had the rank of Assistant Professor of Economics in 1948-1949. The brilliant intellectual atmosphere of the Cowles Commission, with eager young econometricians and mathematically-inclined economists under the guidance of Tjalling Koopmans and Jacob Marschak, was a basic formative influence for me, as was also the summers of 1948 and subsequent years at the RAND Corporation in the heady days of emerging game theory and mathematical programming. My work on social choice and on Pareto efficiency dated from this period.
In 1949 I was appointed Acting Assistant Professor of Economics and Statistics at Stanford University and remained there until 1968, becoming eventually Professor of Economics, Statistics, and Operations Research. At various times during this period, I was a Social Science Research fellow, 1952, a Fellow of the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, 1956-57, Economist on the staff of the United States Council of Economic Advisors, 1962, Executive Head of the Department of Economics at Stanford, 1953-56 and 1962-63, Fellow of Churchill College (Cambridge), 1963-64, and again in 1970, and Guest Professor, Institute for Advanced Studies, Vienna, in June, 1964, and again, 1971. In 1968, I accepted an appointment as Professor of Economics at Harvard University.
I received the John Bates Clark Medal of the American Economic Association, 1957, and I have been elected member of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Philosophical Society; also I am a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Econometric Society, the Institute of Mathematical Statistics, and the American Statistical Association. I received the honorary degrees of LL.D. from the University of Chicago, 1967, and the City University of New York, 1972, and that of Doctor of Social and Economic Sciences for the University of Vienna, 1971. With regard to professional societies, I was president of the Econometric Society in 1956 and The Institute of Management Sciences in 1963, and a President-elect of the American Economic Association for 1972.
I was married in 1947 to the former Selma Schweitzer and now have two sons, David Michael, age ten, and Andrew Seth, age 8.
From Nobel Lectures, Economics 1969-1980, Editor Assar Lindbeck, World Scientific Publishing Co., Singapore, 1992
This autobiography/biography was written at the time of the award and first published in the book series Les Prix Nobel. It was later edited and republished in Nobel Lectures. To cite this document, always state the source as shown above.
Copyright © The Nobel Foundation 1972
Addendum, April 2005
To continue first with my formal career, I remained at Harvard University until 1979; I had been designated the James Bryant Conant University Professor in 1974. In 1979, I returned to Stanford University with the position of Joan Kenney Professor of Economics and Professor of Operations Research. I retired in 1991 and have been Professor Emeritus since.
There were several short-term appointments, including Fellow at Churchill College, University of Cambridge, in 1973 and 1986, part-time Professor at the European University Institute in 1986, Fulbright Professor at the University of Siena in 1995, and Visiting Fellow at All Souls College, University of Oxford, in 1996. I have also enjoyed a close relation with the Santa Fe Institute, being on their External Faculty since 1988 and also serving on the Science Board. I was elected to the Institute of Medicine (U.S.A.) and have chaired two of their study committees, most recently one on the economics of antimalarial drugs. I was also elected to the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences. In 1986, the Institute for Management Sciences and Operations Research awarded me the von Neumann Prize. I served as President of several learned societies, including the International Economic Association.
My research, even before 1972, moved in directions beyond those cited for the Nobel Memorial Prize. Most of it, in one way or another, deals with information as an economic variable, both as to its production and as to its use. Two 1962 papers studied the efficiency with which the market encourages innovation and the implications of learning by doing for economic growth. In 1963 and later papers, I pointed out that the special market characteristics of medical care and medical insurance could be explained by reference to differences in information among the parties involved. Later themes included a specification of the demand for information and the implications of information as an economic input for returns to scale. Another area of study was the economics of racial discrimination.
Kenneth J. Arrow died on 21 February 2017."
2. Obituary qz.com/916606/kenneth-arrow-whose-profound-theories-changed-modern-economics-has-died-at-age-95/
"Economist Kenneth Arrow died yesterday at age 95. He was one of the most influential economists in modern history.
Arrow spent most of his career at Stanford, and at 51 he became the youngest recipient of the Nobel prize in economics, in 1972 (during a stint at Harvard). His theories crop up in all areas of the field, from micro and macroeconomics to labor and health economics, finance, and beyond. These days, economists tend to focus on applied work and stick closely to their field of specialty. It takes a particularly brilliant mind to be a great theorist, especially one whose work has so many applications.
The practical applications of his work are wide ranging. Significantly, many of them stem from the most abstract, stylized model you can imagine. Among Arrow’s many contributions to the economics, but one of the most powerful was the “general equilibrium” theory (pdf). This describes how the whole economy is impacted by a change in one variable. It was a radical departure from the partial-equilibrium approach, where you focus on how a change in price, for example, impacts just one part of the economy. Partial equilibrium models are much easier to understand, but limited, because the economy is so interconnected.
Arrow, along with Gerard Debreu, expanded the traditional models that only allowed for one transaction between a buyer a seller. Theirs allowed for multiple transactions, now and in the future. What’s more, in the future conditions are uncertain, which makes decisions in the present more complicated. This may sound somewhat obvious, but describing this in a robust economic model transformed the field.
The Arrow-Debreu model was highly stylized: the world had only two people, existed for two periods, had competitive markets, and faced a narrow range of outcomes. Still, it helped economists appreciate how time and risk influence the economy. This provided the intellectual foundations for modern finance.
Arrow’s work offers valuable lessons that are sometimes forgotten. It is tempting to judge an economic plan without thinking through all the ways it could impact the economy—or be impacted by other events—both today and in a highly uncertain future. We might assume building a new bridge will create new jobs and generate economic growth, but a wide range of things might happen that will impact the value of the project, like the price of concrete, oil, or labor.
Arrow’s work provided the intellectual framework within which to think about these decisions, and to this day reminds us that even small choices touch all parts of the economy in ways that aren’t so easy to predict."
FYI Sgt (Join to see)SFC (Join to see)cmsgt-rickey-denickeSGT Forrest FitzrandolphLTC (Join to see)Sgt John H.PVT Mark ZehnerSGT Robert R.CPT Tommy CurtisSGT (Join to see) SGT Steve McFarlandCol Carl WhickerSSG Michael NollSFC David Reid, M.S, PHR, SHRM-CP, DTMSFC Jack ChampionA1C Ian Williamsaa John ZodunCpl James R. " Jim" Gossett JrPVT Kenneth Krause
Rest in peace Kenneth Joseph Arrow
Images:
1. President George W. Bush presenting Professor Arrow with the National Medal of Science at the White House in 2006.
2. 'Classic economic theories recognize public goods aspects of one kind or another - the need for economic intervention in obviously, the supply of infrastructure ...' Kenneth Arrow.
3. Kenneth Arrow and his wife the former Selma Schweitzer and David Michael with wife and Andrew Seth.
Kenneth Arrow Tribute
Kenneth Arrow's Stanford colleagues share their memories and reflect on his legacy. The Nobel Prize-winning economist passed away in February 2017 at the age of 95.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKUvbqpRYy8
1. Background from nobelprize.org/prizes/economic-sciences/1972/arrow/biographical/
"Kenneth J. Arrow
Autobiographical
I was born in the city of New York on August 23, 1921. My undergraduate education, at the City College in New York, was made possible only by the existence of that excellent free institution and the financial sacrifices of my parents. I was graduated in 1940 with a degree of Bachelor of Science in Social Science but a major in Mathematics, a paradoxical combination that was prognostic of my future interests. I entered Columbia University for graduate study and received an M.A. in Mathematics in June, 1941, but under the influence of the statistician-economist, Harold Hotelling, I changed to the Economics Department for subsequent graduate work.
My graduate study was interrupted, like that of many others, by World War II. From 1942-1946, I served as a weather officer in the United States Army Air Corps rising to the rank of Captain. My assignment was exclusively in the research field, and my first published paper, On the Optimal Use of Winds for Flight Planning, was the outgrowth of that work. The years 1946-1949 were spent partly as a graduate student at Columbia University, partly as a research associate of the Cowles Commission for Research in Economics at the University of Chicago, where I also had the rank of Assistant Professor of Economics in 1948-1949. The brilliant intellectual atmosphere of the Cowles Commission, with eager young econometricians and mathematically-inclined economists under the guidance of Tjalling Koopmans and Jacob Marschak, was a basic formative influence for me, as was also the summers of 1948 and subsequent years at the RAND Corporation in the heady days of emerging game theory and mathematical programming. My work on social choice and on Pareto efficiency dated from this period.
In 1949 I was appointed Acting Assistant Professor of Economics and Statistics at Stanford University and remained there until 1968, becoming eventually Professor of Economics, Statistics, and Operations Research. At various times during this period, I was a Social Science Research fellow, 1952, a Fellow of the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, 1956-57, Economist on the staff of the United States Council of Economic Advisors, 1962, Executive Head of the Department of Economics at Stanford, 1953-56 and 1962-63, Fellow of Churchill College (Cambridge), 1963-64, and again in 1970, and Guest Professor, Institute for Advanced Studies, Vienna, in June, 1964, and again, 1971. In 1968, I accepted an appointment as Professor of Economics at Harvard University.
I received the John Bates Clark Medal of the American Economic Association, 1957, and I have been elected member of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Philosophical Society; also I am a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Econometric Society, the Institute of Mathematical Statistics, and the American Statistical Association. I received the honorary degrees of LL.D. from the University of Chicago, 1967, and the City University of New York, 1972, and that of Doctor of Social and Economic Sciences for the University of Vienna, 1971. With regard to professional societies, I was president of the Econometric Society in 1956 and The Institute of Management Sciences in 1963, and a President-elect of the American Economic Association for 1972.
I was married in 1947 to the former Selma Schweitzer and now have two sons, David Michael, age ten, and Andrew Seth, age 8.
From Nobel Lectures, Economics 1969-1980, Editor Assar Lindbeck, World Scientific Publishing Co., Singapore, 1992
This autobiography/biography was written at the time of the award and first published in the book series Les Prix Nobel. It was later edited and republished in Nobel Lectures. To cite this document, always state the source as shown above.
Copyright © The Nobel Foundation 1972
Addendum, April 2005
To continue first with my formal career, I remained at Harvard University until 1979; I had been designated the James Bryant Conant University Professor in 1974. In 1979, I returned to Stanford University with the position of Joan Kenney Professor of Economics and Professor of Operations Research. I retired in 1991 and have been Professor Emeritus since.
There were several short-term appointments, including Fellow at Churchill College, University of Cambridge, in 1973 and 1986, part-time Professor at the European University Institute in 1986, Fulbright Professor at the University of Siena in 1995, and Visiting Fellow at All Souls College, University of Oxford, in 1996. I have also enjoyed a close relation with the Santa Fe Institute, being on their External Faculty since 1988 and also serving on the Science Board. I was elected to the Institute of Medicine (U.S.A.) and have chaired two of their study committees, most recently one on the economics of antimalarial drugs. I was also elected to the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences. In 1986, the Institute for Management Sciences and Operations Research awarded me the von Neumann Prize. I served as President of several learned societies, including the International Economic Association.
My research, even before 1972, moved in directions beyond those cited for the Nobel Memorial Prize. Most of it, in one way or another, deals with information as an economic variable, both as to its production and as to its use. Two 1962 papers studied the efficiency with which the market encourages innovation and the implications of learning by doing for economic growth. In 1963 and later papers, I pointed out that the special market characteristics of medical care and medical insurance could be explained by reference to differences in information among the parties involved. Later themes included a specification of the demand for information and the implications of information as an economic input for returns to scale. Another area of study was the economics of racial discrimination.
Kenneth J. Arrow died on 21 February 2017."
2. Obituary qz.com/916606/kenneth-arrow-whose-profound-theories-changed-modern-economics-has-died-at-age-95/
"Economist Kenneth Arrow died yesterday at age 95. He was one of the most influential economists in modern history.
Arrow spent most of his career at Stanford, and at 51 he became the youngest recipient of the Nobel prize in economics, in 1972 (during a stint at Harvard). His theories crop up in all areas of the field, from micro and macroeconomics to labor and health economics, finance, and beyond. These days, economists tend to focus on applied work and stick closely to their field of specialty. It takes a particularly brilliant mind to be a great theorist, especially one whose work has so many applications.
The practical applications of his work are wide ranging. Significantly, many of them stem from the most abstract, stylized model you can imagine. Among Arrow’s many contributions to the economics, but one of the most powerful was the “general equilibrium” theory (pdf). This describes how the whole economy is impacted by a change in one variable. It was a radical departure from the partial-equilibrium approach, where you focus on how a change in price, for example, impacts just one part of the economy. Partial equilibrium models are much easier to understand, but limited, because the economy is so interconnected.
Arrow, along with Gerard Debreu, expanded the traditional models that only allowed for one transaction between a buyer a seller. Theirs allowed for multiple transactions, now and in the future. What’s more, in the future conditions are uncertain, which makes decisions in the present more complicated. This may sound somewhat obvious, but describing this in a robust economic model transformed the field.
The Arrow-Debreu model was highly stylized: the world had only two people, existed for two periods, had competitive markets, and faced a narrow range of outcomes. Still, it helped economists appreciate how time and risk influence the economy. This provided the intellectual foundations for modern finance.
Arrow’s work offers valuable lessons that are sometimes forgotten. It is tempting to judge an economic plan without thinking through all the ways it could impact the economy—or be impacted by other events—both today and in a highly uncertain future. We might assume building a new bridge will create new jobs and generate economic growth, but a wide range of things might happen that will impact the value of the project, like the price of concrete, oil, or labor.
Arrow’s work provided the intellectual framework within which to think about these decisions, and to this day reminds us that even small choices touch all parts of the economy in ways that aren’t so easy to predict."
FYI Sgt (Join to see)SFC (Join to see)cmsgt-rickey-denickeSGT Forrest FitzrandolphLTC (Join to see)Sgt John H.PVT Mark ZehnerSGT Robert R.CPT Tommy CurtisSGT (Join to see) SGT Steve McFarlandCol Carl WhickerSSG Michael NollSFC David Reid, M.S, PHR, SHRM-CP, DTMSFC Jack ChampionA1C Ian Williamsaa John ZodunCpl James R. " Jim" Gossett JrPVT Kenneth Krause
(6)
(0)
LTC Stephen F.
FYI SPC Jon O. COL Mikel J. Burroughs Lt Col John (Jack) Christensen LTC Greg Henning LTC Jeff Shearer Maj Bill Smith, Ph.D. Maj William W. 'Bill' Price CPT Scott Sharon CWO3 Dennis M. SFC Joe S. Davis Jr., MSM, DSL SGT (Join to see) SGT John " Mac " McConnell SP5 Mark Kuzinski PO1 H Gene Lawrence PO2 Kevin Parker PO3 Bob McCord LTC Greg Henning MSgt Robert C Aldi CMSgt (Join to see)
(2)
(0)
LTC Stephen F.
FYI SGT (Join to see) PO1 H Gene Lawrence LTC Jeff Shearer SGT Philip Roncari PO3 Phyllis Maynard SFC William Farrell TSgt Joe C. SGT (Join to see) LTC Wayne Brandon LTC (Join to see) Maj Bill Smith, Ph.D. Maj Robert Thornton SSG Donald H "Don" Bates PO3 William Hetrick PO3 Lynn Spalding SPC Mark Huddleston SGT Rick ColburnCPL Dave Hoover SPC Margaret Higgins SSgt Brian Brakke
(2)
(0)
(2)
(0)
6
6
0
6
6
0
Read This Next
Continue with Facebook 
Continue with Google