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Michael Spence
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Michael Spence | |
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 Stanford University homepage photo |
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| Born | November 7, 1943 Montclair, New Jersey, USA |
| Residence | Stanford, California, USA |
| Nationality |  American |
| Field | Economist |
| Institutions | Harvard University Stanford University |
| Alma mater | Harvard University (Ph.D.) University of Oxford (B.A.) Princeton University (B.A.) |
| Academic advisor | Kenneth Arrow Thomas Schelling Richard Zeckhauser |
| Known for | Signaling theory |
| Notable prizes | John Bates Clark Medal (1981) Nobel Prize in Economics (2001) |
Andrew Michael Spence (born November 7, 1943) is an American-born, Canadian-raised economist and recipient of the 2001 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics, along with George A. Akerlof and Joseph E. Stiglitz, for their work on the dynamics of information flows and market development. He conducted this research while at Harvard University. In the current technological environment - with ever more abundant information flows about market development, prices, profit margins, investment instruments and rates of return - their work is more relevant than ever.
Michael Spence is probably most famous for his job-market signaling model, which essentially triggered the enormous volume of literature in this branch of contract theory. In this model, employees signal their respective skills to employers by acquiring a certain degree of education, which is costly to them. Employers will pay higher wages to more educated employees, because they know that the proportion of employees with high abilities is higher among the educated ones, as it is less costly for them to acquire education than it is for employees with low abilities. For the model to work, it is not even necessary for education to have any intrinsic value if it can convey information about the sender (employee) to the recipient (employer) and if the signal is costly.
In 1966, Spence was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship at Oxford University upon graduation from Princeton University with a degree in Mathematics. Spence is a former Dean of the Stanford Graduate School of Business and is presently the Chair of the Commission on Growth and Development.
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In 2007, Spence was elected as World Prominent Leader by the World Network of Young Leaders and Entrepreneurs WNYLE
Spence, A.M.: "Job Market Signaling", Quarterly Journal of Economics Vol. 87, No. 3 (1973), pp. 355-374.
- List of economists
- Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel
- Rhodes Scholarship
- Michael Spence's Stanford Faculty Profile
- Michael Spence's Home Page at Stanford University
- Michael Spence's Curriculum Vitae.
- A technical summary of the work.
- Autobiography
- A. Michael Spence – Autobiography
- Commission on Growth and Development
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George Akerlof / Michael Spence / Joseph E. Stiglitz (2001) • Daniel Kahneman / Vernon L. Smith (2002) • Robert F. Engle / Clive Granger (2003) • Finn E. Kydland / Edward C. Prescott (2004) • Robert Aumann / Thomas Schelling (2005) • Edmund Phelps (2006) • Leonid Hurwicz / Eric Maskin / Roger Myerson (2007) |
| Persondata | |
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| NAME | Spence, A. Michael |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | |
| SHORT DESCRIPTION | Economist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | November 7, 1943 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Montclair, New Jersey |
| DATE OF DEATH | |
| PLACE OF DEATH | |
Categories: 1943 births | Living people | Jewish American scientists | American economists | Economists | Information economists | Alumni of the University of Oxford | Harvard University alumni | Harvard University faculty | Princeton University alumni | Nobel laureates in Economics | Harvard Centennial Medal recipients | Canadian Rhodes scholars | Stanford University faculty