Kenneth Arrow
Kenneth Arrow, a Nobel Prize winner in economics, has made fundamental contributions to a wide variety of economic topics. On of his major contributions is the "Arrow Impossibility Theorem" that suggests that it is impossible to construct rational social rankings of alternatives from well-behaved individual preference orderings (unless a dictatorial ordering is used). Arrow, together with Gerald Debreu, helped develop general equilibrium microeconomic theory. He also developed and refined several models that deal with a variety of types of market failure involving externalities and imperfect information.
Gary Becker
Gary Becker, a Nobel Prize winner in Economics, is best known for his work on human capital theory, the economics of discrimination, and the economics of the family.
Alan Blinder
Alan Blinder is primarily known for his work on income distribution. He has served on the Council of Economic Advisors and on the Federal Reserve Board and is the author of several books.
James Buchanan
James Buchanan, a Nobel Prize winner in Economics, is probably best known for his work in public choice theory. His work in this area involves using economic analysis to explain political processes. In particular, Buchanan examines the incentives facing all participants in the political process. Buchanan has also made substantial contributions to the theory of public goods.
Martin Feldstein
Martin Feldstein is best known for his examination of the effect of the Social Security system on savings behavior. His work has examined a wide variety of policy issues, including health care, unemployment, and Social Security reform.
Jacob Frenkel
Jacob Frenkel was the chief economist at the International Monetary Fund. He has served as the Governor of the Bank of Israel (Israel's central bank).
Milton Freidman
Milton Friedman, a Nobel Prize winner in economics, is primarily known for his work developing the permanent income hypothesis to explain consumption behavior and for his work on monetary economics. He also made substantial contributions to the theory of decision-making under imperfect information.
Claudia Goldin
The Henry Lee Professor of Economics at Harvard University, Claudia Goldin is perhaps best known for her book, Understanding the Gender Gap: An Economic History of American Women (1990). Her research has focused primarily on American economic history, including the female labor force, slavery, immigration, education, and the wage structure. She has served as both President and Vice President of the Economic History Association and as Vice President of the American Economic Association.
Robert E. Lucas Jr.
Robert Lucas, a Nobel Prize winner in economics, is probably best known for his work on the theory of rational expectations. According to this theory, anticipated changes in fiscal or monetary policy will have neither a short-run, nor a long-run, effect on the equilibrium level of output.
Edward Prescott
Edward Prescott is best known for his pioneering work in developing real business cycle theory. He won the Nobel Prize in 2004 for his contributions to dynamic macroeconomics, the time consistency of economic policy and the driving forces behind business cycles.
Alice Rivlin
Alice Rivlin has actively participated in the formulation of monetary and fiscal policy for over 20 years. She was the founding director of the Congressional Budget Office, the director of the Office of Management and Budget, and a member of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors.
Thomas J. Sargent
Thomas Sargent is best known for his work in developing rational expectations theory and dynamic economic models.
Anna Schwartz
Anna Schwartz is best known for her work with Milton Freidman, A Monetary History of the United States, 1867-1960.
Christopher Sims
Christopher Sims is best known for the development of improved economic forecasting models and for his examination of the causal relationship between money supply changes and real GDP.
Robert Solow
Robert Solow, a Nobel Laureate in Economics, is best known for his work on productivity and economic growth. In this interview, Solow addresses a wide range of economic policy topics.
George Stigler
George Stigler, a Nobel Laureate in Economics, is known primarily for his work in the area of industrial organization.
James Tobin
James Tobin, a Nobel Laureate in Economics, is known primarily for his work on developing the Keynesian model of money demand. He has also made numerous other contributions to macroeconomic and econometric theory. Tobin served as a member of the Council of Economic Advisors during the Kennedy Administration.
