George Arthur Akerlof (born June 17, 1940) is an American economist and Koshland Professor of Economics at the University of California, Berkeley. He won the Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel in 2001 (shared with Michael Spence and Joseph E. Stiglitz). June 17 is the 168th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (169th in leap years), with 197 days remaining. ... 1940 (MCMXL) was a leap year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar). ... An economist is an individual who studies economics and writes about economic policy. ... A professor (Latin: one who publicly professes to be an expert) (or prof for short) is a senior teacher, lecturer and researcher, usually in a college or university. ...     Economics (from the Greek οίκος [oikos], house, and νομος [nomos], rule, hence household management) is a social science that studies the production, distribution, trade and consumption of goods and services. ... University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (also known as California, Cal, UCB, UC Berkeley, The University of California, or simply Berkeley) is a public, coeducational university situated east of the San Francisco Bay in Berkeley, California, overlooking the Golden Gate. ... The Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel (in Swedish Sveriges Riksbanks pris i ekonomisk vetenskap till Alfred Nobels minne), is a prize awarded each year for outstanding intellectual contributions in the field of economics. ... 2001: A Space Odyssey. ... Michael Spence is a winner of Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel, along with George A. Akerlof and Joseph E. Stiglitz, for their work on the dynamics of information flows and market development. ... Joseph E. Stiglitz Joseph Stiglitz (born February 9, 1943) is an American economist, author and winner of the John Bates Clark Medal (1979) and The Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel (2001). ...

Akerlof is perhaps best known for his article, "The Market for Lemons: Quality Uncertainty and the Market Mechanism", published in Quarterly Journal of Economics in 1970, in which he identified the severe problems that may afflict markets characterized by asymmetrical information. The Market for Lemons: Quality Uncertainty and the Market Mechanism is a paper by George Akerlof written in 1970 that established the fundamentals of asymmetrical information theory. ... 1970 (MCMLXX) was a common year starting on Thursday. ... In economics, information asymmetry occurs when one party to a transaction has more or better information than the other party. ...

In Efficiency Wage Models of the Labor Market, Akerlof and coauthor Janet Yellen propose rationales for the efficiency wage hypothesis in which employers pay above the market-clearing wage, in contradiction to the conclusions of neoclassical economics. Janet Yellen Janet Yellen is an economist and president of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. ... In labor economics, the efficiency wage hypothesis argues that wages, at least in some markets, are determined by more than simply supply and demand. ... In economics, market clearing refers to either a simplifying assumption made by the new classical school that markets always go to where the quantity supplied equals the quantity demanded; or the process of getting there via price adjustment. ... Neoclassical economics refers to a general approach (a metatheory) to economics based on supply and demand which depends on individuals (or any economic agent) operating rationally, each seeking to maximize their individual utility or profit by making choices based on available information. ...

Akerlof received his Bachelor's degree from Yale University in 1962, and his Ph.D. from MIT in 1966 and has taught at London School of Economics. His maternal great-grandfather was born in Oakland, California and was an alumnus of UC Berkeley (Class of 1873). His maternal grandfather was also a Berkeley alumnus. His wife Janet Yellen is president of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco and was a professor of economics at UC Berkeley and served on President Bill Clinton's Council of Economic Advisors. To meet Wikipedias quality standards and appeal to a wider international audience, this article may require cleanup. ... Yale University is a private university in New Haven, Connecticut. ... 1962 (MCMLXII) was a common year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar). ... The Massachusetts Institute of Technology, or MIT, is a university located in the city of Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA. MIT is one of the worlds leading research institutions in science and technology, as well as in numerous other fields, including management, economics, linguistics, political science, and philosophy. ... 1966 (MCMLXVI) was a common year starting on Saturday (link goes to calendar) // Events January January 1 - In a coup, Colonel Jean-Bédel Bokassa ousts president David Dacko and takes over the Central African Republic. ... The London School of Economics and Political Science, often referred to as the London School of Economics or simply the LSE, is a specialist university and a constituent college of the federal University of London, located on Houghton Street in Central London, off the Aldwych and next to the Royal... View of downtown Oakland looking west across Lake Merritt. ... 1873 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calaber). ... Janet Yellen Janet Yellen is an economist and president of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. ... The facade of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. ... William Jefferson Bill Clinton (born William Jefferson Blythe III, August 19, 1946) was the 42nd President of the United States, serving from 1993 to 2001. ... The Council of Economic Advisers is a group of economists set up to advise the President of the United States. ...

Akerlof's picture: http://www.berkeley.edu/news/features/2001/nobel/images/g_akerlof.jpg

See also

• List of economists
• List of economics consultancies and think tanks

This is an alphabetical list of well-known economists. ... This is a list of economic consultancies and think tanks // Well-known think tanks Australia The Australia Institute (TAI) Australia-Japan Research Center (AJRC) Australian Institute of International Affairs (AIIA) Brisbane Institute Committee for Economic Development of Australia Centre for Independent Studies Institute of Public Affairs (Australia) OzProspect Social Policy...

External links

• Article on George Akerlof from Yale Economic Review
• Autobiography on Nobel E-museum
• Akerlof's Berkeley webpage
• George A. Akerlof – Autobiography