George Akerlof

Oct 7, 2024 | econlib.org | David Henderson |Joseph Stiglitz |George Akerlof |Michael Spence

A Book Review of The Road to Freedom: Economics and the Good Society, by Joseph E. Stiglitz. IntroductionColumbia University economics professor Joseph E. Stiglitz has recently published a book titled The Road to Freedom: Economics and the Good Society. In it, Stiglitz, who shared the 2001 Nobel Prize in economics with George Akerlof and Michael Spence, criticizes what he calls “neoliberalism” and singles out Milton Friedman and Friedrich Hayek as two prominent neoliberals.

Nov 6, 2023 | econlib.org | Arnold Kling |George Akerlof |ROBERT SHILLER

Economists give high moral status to transactions between consenting adults. We presume that such exchanges make both parties better off. In Phishing for Phools: The Economics of Manipulation & Deception,George A. Akerlof and Robert J. Shiller challenge that presumption. They argue that the natural outcome of markets is for clever entrepreneurs to discover ways to exploit the weaknesses of other parties. This is an important topic. In my mind, it raises many fundamental philosophical issues.

Mar 16, 2023 | econlib.org | Rosolino A. Candela |Scott Sumner |George Akerlof |James M. Buchanan

In my previous post, we saw how George Akerlof’s argument can persuade us that markets fail- from the perspective of microeconomics. This brings us to the “window” of price theory, from which we can observe that instead of demonstrating the case of market failure, Akerlof is also illustrating the exact opposite in the very same paper! How can this be the case? As James Buchanan points out, different windows can direct our attention to concentrate on different aspects of the same phenomenon.

Mar 6, 2023 | econlib.org | David Henderson |Scott Sumner |Walter Edward Block |George Akerlof

This is from the newly published biography of Mancur Olson in David R. Henderson, ed. The Concise Encyclopedia of Economics. I enjoyed reading The Logic of Collective Action after over 50 years and reading for the first time the whole of The Rise and Decline of Nations and his last book, Power and Prosperity. The discussion above is of Power and Prosperity.

Feb 27, 2023 | econlib.org | Adam Smith |David Ricardo |Gary Becker |George Akerlof

Mancur Olson was an American economist who had pathbreaking insights about collective action, the rise and decline of national economies, and the fortunes of Communist and post-Communist countries. The Logic of Collective ActionOlson’s first major work, The Logic of Collective Action, published in 1965, examined what is required for collective action to succeed when the number of people in the “collective” is large.