George Akerlof
Professor of Economics
University of California at Berkeley

George Akerlof is Koshland Professor of Economics at the University of California at Berkeley. In 2001 he was co-recipient of the Prize in Economic Sciences in honor of Alfred Nobel. The Nobel Committee cited Akerlof's 1970 paper, "The Market for Lemons," which for the first time described the role of asymmetric information in causing market perversity. A vicious circle in used car markets illustrates the phenomenon. Potential sellers of used cars, with their superior information, withhold good cars from the market; buyers react by reducing the price they are willing to pay; and in turn sellers further reduce the quality of cars put up for sale. Dr. Akerlof has also pioneered in the application of sociology and psychology to the workings of the macroeconomy. He has been senior economist at the President?s Council of Economic Advisers, and past vice president and member of the executive committee of the American Economics Association, and member of the Council of the Econometric Society. He is currently president of the American Economic Association. From 1979 to 1981 he was Cassel Professor of Money and Banking at the London School of Economics.