2001: Stiglitz, Akerlof & Spence

The 2001 Prize was awarded jointly to George A. Akerlof, Michael Spence and Joseph Stiglitz "for their analyses of markets with assymetric information".

For many years, economic models worked with the assumption of perfect information and although it was well known how assymetric information might lead up to inefficient market outcomes, it was not until the revolutionizing work of the 2001 laureates that there was a prolific increase in research of information assymetries.

All three of this year laureates have provided crucial information on their research about the consequences of information assymetry, in usual markets/goods services as well as in insurance markets. Furthermore, their research has created new models and ways to deal with this issue in a more rigorous way.

Notably, the so-called "lemons paper" from George A. Akerlof was an important breakthrough in the analysis of information assymetries on market outcomes related to second-hand markets.

Below you can find a list of resources related to this year's prize: