Portrait of George Akerlof

Birthday profile

George Akerlof

George Akerlof, American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate

Born
June 17, 1940
Age in 2026
86
Zodiac sign
Gemini
Birth year
1940

About George Akerlof

George Arthur Akerlof is an American economist and a university professor at the McCourt School of Public Policy at Georgetown University and Koshland Professor of Economics Emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley. Akerlof was awarded the 2001 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, jointly with Michael Spence and Joseph Stiglitz, "for their analyses of markets with asymmetric information." He is the husband of former United States Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen. He was awarded Koshland Professor of Economics Emeritus in 2010. These ideas first appeared in their article "Economics and Identity", published in the Quarterly Journal of Economics in 2000. For his work and contribution to economics and philosophy, he was awarded the third Witten Lectures in Economics and Philosophy at the Witten/Herdecke University in 2009. Akerlof then became an associate professor at Berkeley and voted for a tenure-track position at the university.

Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.

George Akerlof timeline

  1. These ideas first appeared in their article "Economics and Identity", published in the Quarterly Journal of Economics in 2000.
  2. Akerlof was awarded the 2001 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, jointly with Michael Spence and Joseph Stiglitz, "for their analyses of markets with asymmetric information." He is the husband of former United States Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen.
  3. For his work and contribution to economics and philosophy, he was awarded the third Witten Lectures in Economics and Philosophy at the Witten/Herdecke University in 2009.
  4. He was awarded Koshland Professor of Economics Emeritus in 2010.

The world when George Akerlof was born

George Akerlof was born in 1940. The year snapshot below places that birthday in its cultural and historical setting: the music and films people were following, the headlines shaping public life, and the everyday prices families encountered.

Culture in 1940

  • #1 song"In the Mood" – Glenn Miller
  • Top movieRebecca
  • Best-selling bookFor Whom the Bell Tolls – Ernest Hemingway

Headlines and milestones

  • Major sports momentFirst televised college basketball game
  • Top headlineWinston Churchill becomes British Prime Minister
  • Technology milestoneFirst McDonald's restaurant opens
  • Defining fadSwing music hits its peak
  • Notable inventionJeep (military vehicle)
  • World population2.30 billion

United States snapshot

  • U.S. leaderFranklin D. Roosevelt
  • Sports championCincinnati Reds (World Series)
  • U.S. population132.2M

1940 versus 2026

These figures put everyday life in George Akerlof's birth year beside the site's latest United States snapshot.

Measure19402026
Gas$0.18$3.45/gal
Average home$5,300$435,000
Average income$3,100$67,500
Minimum wage$0.30$7.25/hr (federal)
Movie ticket$0.25$11.95
Postage stamp$0.03$0.73
Population132.2M341 million

Sources and editorial standards

This profile combines a biographical source with structured birthday and historical context. Sources recorded for this profile: Wikipedia, Encyclopaedia Britannica, Library of Congress. See our editorial policy for sourcing, corrections, and review standards.

Read the source biography on Wikipedia. Wikipedia text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.