George A. Akerlof

DEFINITION of 'George A. Akerlof'

A winner of the 2001 Nobel Prize in Economics, along with Michael Spence and Joseph Stiglitz, for his theory of information asymmetry as expressed in his famous 1970 paper, "The Market for Lemons," which discusses imperfect information in the market for used cars. He is also well known for his efficiency wage hypothesis, which suggests that wages are determined by the efficiency goals of employers in addition to supply and demand forces.

BREAKING DOWN 'George A. Akerlof'

Akerlof is an economics professor at the University of California at Berkeley; he also taught briefly at the London School of Economics. He was born in Connecticut in 1940 and earned his PhD from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Akerlof's research focuses on macroeconomics, monetary theory and behavioral economics.

  1. A. Michael Spence

    An American economist who has won the Nobel Memorial Prize in ...
  2. Lemons Problem

    The issue of information asymmetry between the buyer and seller ...
  3. Joseph Stiglitz

    An American neo-Keynesian economist and winner of the 2001 Nobel ...
  4. Douglass C. North

    An American economist and winner of the 1993 Nobel Memorial Prize ...
  5. John R. Hicks

    A British economist who received the 1972 Nobel Memorial Prize ...
  6. Lemon

Related Articles
  1. Investing

    5 Nobel Prize-Winning Economic Theories You Should Know About

  2. Personal Finance

    How To Avoid Buying A "Lemon" Product

  3. Markets

    Nobel Winners Are Economic Prizes

  4. Managing Wealth

    Janet Yellen Success Story: Net Worth, Education & Top Quotes

  5. The Dangerous Idea Keeping You From Outsized Gains

  6. Managing Wealth

    Did You Buy A Lemon?

  7. Trading

    Modern Portfolio Theory vs. Behavioral Finance

  8. Markets

    How Influential Economists Changed Our History

    Find out how these five groundbreaking thinkers laid our financial foundations.
  9. Trading

    Market Efficiency Basics

  10. Trading

    7 Controversial Investing Theories

  1. What is the theory of asymmetric information in economics?

    Read a brief overview of asymmetric information theory in economics, the development of its main arguments and why some challenge ... Read Answer >>

  3. Do any markets not exhibit asymmetric information?

  4. Has the Efficient Market Hypothesis been proven correct or incorrect?

  5. How does adverse selection contribute to market failure?

    Examine an brief introduction to the adverse selection theory of market failure, and find out why economists disagree about ... Read Answer >>
  6. Who does Warren Buffett plan to bequeath his estate to?

Hot Definitions
  1. Cyclical Stock

  2. Front Running

  3. After-Hours Trading - AHT

  4. Omnibus Account

  5. Weighted Average Life - WAL

  6. Real Rate Of Return

Trading Center