Kenneth J. Arrow
Kenneth J. Arrow received the 1972 prize in Economic Sciences. This profile brings together the official award record and attributed background on the economist’s work and career.
Personal and professional profile
- Name
- Kenneth J. Arrow [1]
- Full name
- Kenneth J. Arrow [2]
- Birth date
- 1921-08-23 [2]
- Birthplace
- New York, NY, USA [2]
- Education
- City University of New York; Columbia University; City College of New York; Townsend Harris High School [3]
- Fields / occupation
- writer; teacher; economist; university teacher; political scientist; statistician [3]
- Prize
- Economic Sciences · 1972 [2]
- Research recognized
- for their pioneering contributions to general economic equilibrium theory and welfare theory [2]
- Prize share
- 1/2 [2]
- Affiliation at the award
- Harvard University [2]
- Death date
- 2017-02-21 [2]
- Institutions in career record
- University of Chicago; Santa Fe Institute; Harvard University [3]
Research, education and career background
Kenneth Joseph Arrow (August 23, 1921 – February 21, 2017) was an American economist, mathematician and political theorist. He received the John Bates Clark Medal in 1957, and the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences in 1972, along with John Hicks. [4]
In economics, Arrow was a major figure in postwar neoclassical economic theory. Four of his students (Roger Myerson, Eric Maskin, John Harsanyi, and Michael Spence) went on to become Nobel laureates themselves. His contributions to social choice theory, notably his "impossibility theorem", and his work on general equilibrium analysis are significant. His work in many other areas of economics, including endogenous growth theory and the economics of information, was also foundational. [4]
Selected introductory text by Wikipedia contributors — Kenneth Arrow, under CC BY-SA 4.0. Official facts are cited separately.
Award and academic affiliation
The official Nobel record dates the Economic Sciences award to 1972 and lists Harvard University as the affiliation at the time. [2]
An affiliation attached to an award describes that point in the person’s career; it does not establish a current appointment. [2]
Education and career timeline
Source-supported connections
Frequently asked questions
When did Kenneth J. Arrow receive the prize in Economic Sciences?
The official award record gives the year as 1972. [2]
Which institution was Kenneth J. Arrow affiliated with at the time of the Economic Sciences award?
Harvard University. This is the award-time affiliation. [2]
Kenneth J. Arrow connection map
Select a node to inspect the relationship and source.
Links retain their source-specific meaning. Award-time affiliations and links to related reading are not claims about current appointments or economic causation.
Sources and review dates
- Nobel Prize — official biography and award record ↗
- Nobel Prize — official biography and award record ↗
- Wikidata background facts (CC0) ↗
- Wikipedia contributors — Kenneth Arrow (CC BY-SA 4.0) ↗
Reviewed 23 October 2026. Historical dates and award-time affiliations retain their original context. A review date is not an event date. Background sources are identified separately from official records.