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Used cars lead to Nobel prize for California economist
( 2001-10-11 11:17 ) (7 )

California economist George Akerlof won a share in the Nobel prize for economics on Wednesday for his pioneering work showing that used car salesman keep what they know to themselves.

Now with a third of the US$1 million prize, he doesn't need to buy a used car even if he wanted to, which he says he never has.

"I tend not to buy used cars," Akerlof, 61, told a news conference hours after learning he had won the prestigious prize along with Michael Spence, 58, a professor at Stanford University and Joseph Stiglitz, 58, a professor at Columbia University.

Akerlof, of the University of California at Berkeley, cited his 1966 study of the murky and sometimes cut-throat used car market showing how markets function when some people know more than others as a major reason for receiving the prize.

George Perry, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, said the great contribution of the researchers had been to challenge the idea that all economic behavior is governed by rational expectations about the future.

Instead, they showed that imperfect information -- a concept called asymmetric information -- affects economic decisions. The research has led to practical applications for everyone from insurance actuaries to central bankers.

"It is a wonderful award, if there was betting on these things, I would have been betting on George for the last few years," Perry said.

Akerlof said he chose to focus on the used car market in his study because it was an area where buyers and sellers did not have access to the same information.

For example, buyers may be wary because they wonder why a car is on the market, while sellers want the best possible price. A dearth of information could also spur parties to leave the market, causing it to collapse, Akerlof said.

"The nice thing about the used car market is everybody knows what it means to buy and sell a used car," Akerlof said. "If I went to a supermarket and they sold me rotten tomatoes everyday, I wouldn't go back there," he added.

Akerlof also paid tribute to his wife Janet Yellen, who served as chairwoman of the Clinton Administration's Council of Economic Advisors from 1997 to 1999, as well as the co-recipients, saying much of his research stemmed from listening to friends and colleagues.

He added some people might think it strange that a person could win a Nobel prize for studying used cars and that even he was still trying to come to grips with the award.

"I was totally thrilled but I didn't quite believe it," Akerlof said. "Maybe tomorrow I will believe it."