Background
Sonnenschein, Hugo Freund was born on November 14, 1940 in New York City. Son of Leo William and Lillian Silver Sonnenschein.
academic administrator economist educator writer
Sonnenschein, Hugo Freund was born on November 14, 1940 in New York City. Son of Leo William and Lillian Silver Sonnenschein.
Bachelor of Arts Rochester, 1961. Master of Science, Purdue University, 1963. Doctor of Philosophy, Purdue University, 1964.
Doctor of Philosophy (honorary), Purdue University, 1996. Doctor of Philosophy (honorary), Tel Aviv University, 1993. D (honorary), University Autonoma Barcelona, Spain, 1994.
Doctor of Philosophy (honorary), Lake Forest College, 1995. Doctor of Philosophy (honorary), North Central College, 2001. Doctor of Philosophy (honorary), University Chicago, 2002.
Assistant Professor, Association Professor, Professor of Economics, University Minnesota, 1964-1970. Visiting Professor, University Andes, Colombia, 1965, Pennsylvania State University, 1968-1969. Professor of Economics, University Massachusetts, 1970-1973.
Visiting Professor, Universities Tel Aviv and Hebrew, Jerusalem, 1972. Professor of Economics, Northwestern University, 1973-1976. Visiting Professor, Universities Parix XII, 1978, Aix-en-Provence, France, 1978, McMaster, Canada, 1981, Strasbourg, 1983.
Professor of Economics, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey, United States of America, since 1976. Association Editor, Journal of Economic Theory,
5. Editorial Board, Journal of Mathematical Economics, since 1974, Irving Fisher & Frank Taussig Competitions, 1973-1976, Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics J., 1976-1980.
Coed., Editor, Econometrica, 1975-1977, 1977-1984. Advisory Editor, Econometric Society. Monograph Series, since 1980.
Editor, Fund. Economics, since 1981.
From the start I was attracted by the axiomatic method: Debreu’s Theory of Value and Arrow’s Social Choice and Individual Values were most influential. My first paper to receive attention demonstrated that general equilibrium existence theory could be carried out without transitive preferences. Subsequently, I applied the formal general equilibrium model to situations with trade and taxation.
I next investigated the extent to which the utility hypothesis restricts the form of market excess demand functions. This was motivated by my concern that structure might be lost via aggregation. This has been my most influential work.
My approach to general equilibrium changed radically when I read Debreu’s lemma on ‘abstract economies’ and its application by Arrow and Debreu. Working with Wayne Shafer, I extended Debreu’s lemma. This led to my interest in equilibrium with monopolistic elements, and D. John Roberts and I worked on the foundations of that theory.
I have had a continuing interest in the demand theory of the individual consumer, and in social choice theory, and continue to publish in these areas.
Some recent contributions: with William Novshek, I have constructed noncooperative Cournot-type foundations for the Walrasian model. These foundations apply when average cost functions are U-shaped, entry is free and firms are small relative to the market. With Bob Anderson, I have established existence theorems for economies in which agents condition on the information communicated by prices.
Also, I have studied the dynamics of the
adjustment of myopic firms to differential profits. I am interested in the adequacy of profits as signals for driving the distribution of firms to an optimum. A major long-term research goal is to present a unified treatment of general equilibrium theory that incorporates, along with classical perspectives, recent lessons learned from game theory, the economics of incentives, and the economics of uncertainty.
Trustee University Rochester, since 1992, University Chicago, since 1993. Fellow: Econometric Society (president 1988-1989), American Academy Arts and Sciences. Member: National Academy of Sciences, American Philosophical Society.
Married Elizabeth Gunn, August 26, 1962. Children: Leah, Amy, Rachel.