Andrei Shleifer

Professor of Economics at Harvard University; John Bates Clark Medal winner

What is Andrei Shleifer known for?

Andrei Shleifer is a renowned economist and academic, best known for his contributions in three distinct fields: corporate finance, economics of financial markets, and economics of transition. Born on February 20, 1961, in Moscow, Soviet Union, Shleifer later emigrated to Rochester, New York as a teenager in 1976. As a student at East High School in Rochester, Shleifer bolstered his English through watching episodes of Charlie’s Angels and nurtured his interest in mathematics.

Shleifer's academic journey is impressive. He obtained his Bachelor's degree in Mathematics from Harvard University in 1982. His realization of not being destined to be a mathematician dawned upon him while taking Math 55 with Brad DeLong during his freshman year in Harvard. Yet, this experience was instrumental in giving him a future co-author. Later, he completed his PhD in economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1986. Shleifer's mentor and professor during his undergraduate education at Harvard, Lawrence Summers, played a significant role in shaping his academic and professional life. The two scholarly minds often collaborated, becoming co-authors, joint grant recipients, and faculty colleagues.

Shleifer has held since 1991 a tenured position in the Department of Economics at Harvard University. From 2001 through 2006, he served as the Whipple V. N. Jones Professor of Economics. Before that, he was a faculty member at the Graduate School of Business at the University of Chicago and briefly at Princeton University. He was also a project director of Harvard Institute for International Development's Russian aid project from 1992 until 1997.

Shleifer's work primarily concentrated on financial economics, specifically in the field of behavioral finance. Together with his former colleagues from the University of Chicago, Kevin M. Murphy and Robert W. Vishny, he wrote influential papers on political economy, the economics of transition, and economic development. Their paper titled "Industrialization and the Big Push" was highlighted by Paul Krugman as a breakthrough, marking the end of a "long slump in development theory."

In recognition of his groundbreaking work, Shleifer was honored with the John Bates Clark Medal in 1999. IDEAS/RePEc has also ranked him as the second top economist globally. On top of these impressive accolades, he is also listed as #1 on the list of "Most-Cited Scientists in Economics & Business".

For more about Andrei Shleifer's work and contributions, you can visit his profile on the IDEAS/RePEc page.