Posts

Showing posts from March, 2017

Kenneth Arrow, 1921-2017

Image
Arrow in 2009 at the San Francisco AEA. For him, the environment was the world's biggest problem. For me it was conflict. We called it quits after a while, and I took this photograph. Professor Kenneth Arrow died on February 21, 2017, at the age of 95. He was widely regarded (along with Paul Samuelson, John Hicks and possibly --- depending on tastes --- John Maynard Keynes, Milton Friedman and Gary Becker) as one of the greatest economists of the 20th century. He also happened to be my favorite economist of all time.     Professor Dipak Banerjee, my teacher, introduced me to Kenneth Arrow in 1974, who appeared (much in the manner of Hindu god[desse]s for whom my mother has special reverence ) in the form of a small yellow paperback. I acquired Social Choice and Individual Values from Dasgupta and Co. of College Street , and still have it. I was a first year undergraduate. That little book was a repository of the most profound logical thought. I had never seen anyone distill wh