Kenneth Arrow, Nobel-Winning Economist, Dies at 95

Ken and I were both members of the RIAS seminar at Harvard, which was held in Williams James Hall, a building where approximately none of us had our offices. As we waited for an elevator, two in a row went by the main floor to the basement. I mused "I wonder why everybody in the basement wants to go upstairs." His reply shot back: "You're confusing supply with demand."

He was one of my heroes before I ever got to Harvard. Turned out to be a nice guy. RIP.

For someone interested in a contemporary view of his "Impossibility Theorem", especially in policy planning, I recommend:

https://www.amazon.com/Arrow-Impossibility-Theorem-Kenneth-L...

Kenneth Arrow was brilliant, but I prefer to call it the "Swedish National Bank Prize for Economics". There is no Nobel Prize for Economics, as such.

Indeed, the official title is "The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel".

Don't miss the excellent grey whale story in the last 3 paragraphs of the obit.