George A. Akerlof

Background

George Akerlof was born on June 17, 1940, in New Haven, Connecticut. His father, Gustav Akerlof, was a Swedish-born chemist on the Yale faculty, while his mother, Rosalie, came from a family of German-Jewish descent with strong academic and scientific connections. His maternal uncle Joseph Hershfelder became a prominent physical chemist, and his older brother Carl became a physicist.

Akerlof's childhood included periods in Pittsburgh, where his father worked in scientific research. He attended Shady Side Academy and later Lawrenceville School. The scientific environment of his family formed an important part of his early background, although he ultimately pursued economics rather than chemistry or physics.

Education

Akerlof attended Shady Side Academy in Pittsburgh and Lawrenceville School in New Jersey. Lawrenceville, founded in 1810, is a long-established American preparatory school whose educational tradition combines classical academic study with preparation for university and public life.

He received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Yale University in 1962 and a Ph.D. in economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1966. Yale, founded in 1701, was one of the leading American research universities during his undergraduate years. MIT's Department of Economics was then developing an influential program in modern economic theory and quantitative social science, providing the setting for Akerlof's doctoral training.

Career

Akerlof joined the University of California, Berkeley, as an assistant professor of economics in 1966. During his first year there he wrote “The Market for ‘Lemons’: Quality Uncertainty and the Market Mechanism,” which analyzed how sellers' superior information about product quality could undermine trade. He became a visiting professor at the Indian Statistical Institute in New Delhi in 1967–1968 and was granted tenure at Berkeley in 1969.

He served as an associate professor at Berkeley from 1970 to 1977 and as a professor from 1977. In 1969 he also spent a summer as a research associate at Harvard University. Harvard, founded in 1636, was a major center of American economic research, while the Indian Statistical Institute had become an important institution for statistical and economic analysis in post-independence India.

From 1973 to 1974, Akerlof was a senior staff economist at the Council of Economic Advisers. He became a visiting research economist in the Special Studies Section of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System in 1977–1978, where he met Janet Yellen. He then served as Cassel Professor of Economics with respect to Money and Banking at the London School of Economics from 1978 to 1980. The Federal Reserve Board shaped national monetary policy, while the Council of Economic Advisers provided economic analysis to the U.S. president; the London School of Economics was an internationally prominent institution for economics and the social sciences.

Akerlof returned to Berkeley and became full professor in 1980. His research expanded from macroeconomics and monetary theory into unemployment, labor markets, social customs, discrimination, behavioral economics, and the economic consequences of identity. He was a senior fellow of the Brookings Institution from 1994, and later became associated with the International Monetary Fund as a senior resident scholar. Brookings, founded in 1916, is a Washington-based research institution devoted to public policy, while the IMF works internationally on monetary cooperation, financial stability, and economic policy.

In 2014 Akerlof joined Georgetown University's McCourt School of Public Policy, where he taught macroeconomic and microeconomic theory as a distinguished university professor. Georgetown, founded in 1789, is the oldest Catholic university in the United States and has a long tradition of public-service education. He was named professor emeritus at the McCourt School in 2026 after more than a decade at Georgetown.

Akerlof's research on asymmetric information, social identity, behavioral motivations, unemployment, and macroeconomic coordination influenced several areas of modern economics. He shared the 2001 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences with Michael Spence and Joseph Stiglitz for analyses of markets with asymmetric information.

Achievements

• Akerlof's 1970 article “The Market for ‘Lemons’: Quality Uncertainty and the Market Mechanism” demonstrated how asymmetric information about product quality can produce adverse selection and cause markets to contract or fail.

• His research helped establish behavioral economics by integrating psychological, sociological, and anthropological considerations into the analysis of economic behavior.

• His work with Rachel Kranton introduced social identity into formal economic analysis, showing how identity and social norms can influence economic choices and outcomes.

• His research on unemployment, efficiency wages, labor-market behavior, social customs, and macroeconomic coordination broadened the foundations of modern macroeconomic theory.

Works

More photos

• article

  • The Market for “Lemons”: Quality Uncertainty and the Market Mechanism

    (This article showed how unequal information between selle...)

    1970
  • Looting: The Economic Underworld of Bankruptcy for Profit

    (Co-authored with Paul Romer, this article analyzed how di...)

    1993

• book

  • Explorations in Pragmatic Economics

    (A collection of Akerlof's essays on macroeconomics, labor...)

    2005
  • An Economic Theorist's Book of Tales

    (A collection of essays examining the consequences of unco...)

    1984
  • Animal Spirits: How Human Psychology Drives the Economy, and Why It Matters for Global Capitalism

    (Co-authored with Robert J. Shiller, this book argues that...)

    2009
  • Identity Economics: How Our Identities Shape Our Work, Wages, and Well-Being

    (Co-authored with Rachel E. Kranton, this book develops an...)

    2010
  • Phishing for Phools: The Economics of Manipulation and Deception

    (Co-authored with Robert J. Shiller, this book examines ho...)

    2015

• book chapter

  • Stability, Marginal Products, Putty and Clay

    (Akerlof contributed a chapter to K. Shell's edited volume...)

    1967

• edited book

  • Efficiency Wage Models of the Labor Market

    (Edited with Janet Yellen, this volume developed theoretic...)

    1986

Views

Akerlof's economic thought treats human behavior as shaped not only by prices and material incentives but also by social norms, identity, fairness, trust, and customary behavior. His work argues that economic analysis is strengthened when it incorporates insights from psychology, sociology, and anthropology.

His research on information asymmetry emphasizes that markets may produce poor outcomes when participants possess unequal knowledge. His later work on identity economics and behavioral economics examines how social roles and shared expectations influence work, consumption, education, cooperation, and economic decision-making.

Membership

Akerlof has participated in major professional and scholarly organizations in economics, including the Econometric Society, the American Economic Association, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the National Bureau of Economic Research, the Brookings Panel on Economic Activity, the Institute for Policy Reform, and the Russell Sage Foundation Roundtable on Behavioral Economics. These organizations support economic research, professional exchange, public-policy analysis, and interdisciplinary study of social behavior.

His professional service included vice-presidency and the presidency of the American Economic Association, membership on the association's executive committee, service on the North American Council of the Econometric Society, and leadership and research roles connected with the National Bureau of Economic Research.

• Fellow and member of the North American Council.

  Econometric Society , International

• Served on the executive committee, as vice president, and as president in 2006.

  American Economic Association , United States

• Fellow.

  American Academy of Arts and Sciences , United States

• Research associate and director.

  National Bureau of Economic Research , United States

• Fellow.

  Institute for Policy Reform , United States

• Member.

  Russell Sage Foundation Roundtable on Behavioral Economics , United States

• Associate in the Economic Growth Program.

  Canadian Institute for Advanced Research , Canada

• Trustee.

  Economists for Peace and Security , United States

Personality

Akerlof has described himself as physically sickly during childhood and as having been part of a highly academic circle of friends. His autobiographical writings portray a self-critical and intellectually exploratory character, with a willingness to pursue unconventional questions in economics.

Quotes from others about the person

• Colleagues and professional institutions have described Akerlof's work as foundational to the study of asymmetric information and influential in the development of behavioral economics.

Interests

• Interdisciplinary research connecting economics with psychology, sociology, anthropology, and social customs.

Connections

Akerlof is married to economist Janet L. Yellen, whom he met while working at the Federal Reserve Board. Yellen later served as chair of the Federal Reserve and as secretary of the United States Treasury. They have one son, Robert Akerlof, who became an economist.

His family connections include his mother Rosalie, his father Gustav, his maternal uncle Joseph Hershfelder, and his brother Carl Akerlof. The family included several scientists and academics, particularly in chemistry and physics.

Father:

Gosta

Swedish-born chemist and member of the Yale faculty.

Mother:

Rosalie

Came from a family of German-Jewish descent and studied chemistry at Yale.

Brother:

Carl Akerlof

Physicist and older brother of George Akerlof.

Wife:

Janet Yellen

Economist who served as chair of the Federal Reserve and secretary of the United States Treasury.

Uncle:

Joseph Hershfelder

Maternal uncle and prominent physical chemist.

References

• Nobel Prize: George A. Akerlof – Facts Documents Akerlof's birth, education, Berkeley career, marriage to Janet Yellen, and Nobel Prize awarded for analyses of markets with asymmetric information.
• George A. Akerlof – Biographical Provides Akerlof's autobiographical account of his family background, education, early intellectual development, Berkeley appointment, work in India, government service, and marriage.
  2001
• George A. Akerlof, Distinguished Fellow 2007 Documents his education, early Berkeley career, work at the Indian Statistical Institute and Federal Reserve, research on information asymmetry, and professional honors.
  2007
• George A. Akerlof | UC Berkeley Economics Documents his Berkeley appointments, emeritus status, research fields, Nobel Prize, American Economic Association presidency, and professional service.
• Nobel Prize-Winning Economist George Akerlof Named as Professor Emeritus at McCourt School Documents his Georgetown career, appointment as professor emeritus, research contributions, major books, and collaborations with Janet Yellen, Rachel Kranton, and Robert Shiller.
  2026
• George A. Akerlof Curriculum Vitae Provides dates for education and employment, professional memberships, honors, research associations, and a selected publication list.