Kenneth Arrow

impossibility theorem; general equilibrium.

Kenneth Arrow (1921–2017) was a professor at Stanford and Harvard who shared the 1972 Nobel Prize in Economics with John Hicks. His 1951 impossibility theorem demonstrated that no rank-order voting rule can satisfy a minimal set of fairness criteria simultaneously. With Gérard Debreu, he produced a rigorous proof of competitive general equilibrium that became a cornerstone of modern economic theory.