Kenneth J. Arrow was awarded the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences in 1972 for his work in radically reformulating traditional equilibrium theory; the model he presented in a paper he co-authored in 1954 became the starting point for the major part of further research in the field. Arrow also developed the theory of uncertainty and has analyzed possibilities for decentralized decisions in systems with prices fixed by a central authority. Currently a professor emeritus of economics at Stanford University and a consultant for the RAND Corporation, Arrow has served as an economist for the U.S. Council of Economic Advisers and as a professor of economics at Harvard University.

Arrow received his Ph.D. in economics from Columbia University.