Lives of the Laureates - 9780262027960

Lives of the Laureates offers readers an informal history ofmodern economic thought as told through autobiographical essays by twenty-three Nobel Prizelaureates in Economics. The essays not only provide unique insights into major economic ideas of ourtime but also shed light on the processes of intellectual discovery and creativity. The accounts areaccessible and engaging, achieving clarity without sacrificing inherently difficult content.

This sixth edition adds four recent Nobelists to its pages: Eric Maskin, whoillustrates his explanation of mechanism design with an example involving a mother, a cake, and twochildren; Joseph Stiglitz, who recounts his field's ideological wars linked to policy disputes; PaulKrugman, who describes the insights he gained from studying the model of the Capitol HillBabysitting Coop (and the recession it suffered when more people wanted to accumulate babysittingcoupons than redeem them); and Peter Diamond, who maps his development from student to teacher topolicy analyst. Lives of the Laureates grows out of a continuing lecture seriesat Trinity University in San Antonio, which invites Nobelists from American universities to describetheir evolution as economists in personal as well as technical terms. These lectures demonstrate therichness and diversity of contemporary economic thought. The reader will find that paths cross inunexpected ways--that disparate thinkers were often influenced by the same teachers -- and that luckas well as hard work plays a role in the process of scientificdiscovery.

The LaureatesLawrence R. Klein • Kenneth J.Arrow • Paul A. Samuelson • Milton Friedman • George J. Stigler • JamesTobin • Franco Modigliani • James M. Buchanan • Robert M. Solow • William F.Sharpe • Douglass C. North • Myron S. Scholes • Gary S. Becker • Robert E.Lucas, Jr. • James J. Heckman • Vernon L. Smith • Edward C. Prescott •Thomas C. Schelling • Edmund S. Phelps • Eric S. Maskin • Joseph E. Stiglitz• Paul Krugman • Peter A. Diamond