born Aug. 23, 1921, New York, N.Y., U.S.
U.S. economist.
He received his Ph.D. from Columbia University and taught principally at Stanford and Harvard. Arrow's books include Social Choices and Individual Values (1951). His most striking claim was that, under certain conditions of rationality and equality, a ranking of societal preferences will not necessarily correspond to the rankings of individual preferences, given more than two individuals and alternative choices. In 1972 he shared the Nobel Prize with John R. Hicks .