Photo: Robert Scoble from Half Moon Bay, USA / CC BY 2.0 (source: Wikimedia Commons)
My Take
Michael Spence belongs to that rare tier of economists whose ideas quietly govern everyday life. His Nobel-winning work on market signaling explained why credentials like a college degree carry weight in a world of unequal information, an insight that still shapes hiring, lending, and admissions whether we notice it or not. A Rhodes Scholar, John Bates Clark Medalist, and Stanford dean, he combined raw theoretical firepower with genuine teaching commitment. What I admire most is the practicality buried inside the abstraction: he took a slippery problem, asymmetric information, and gave the rest of us a usable way to think about it. A genuinely consequential mind.
1. Profile
- Name (English)
- Michael Spence
- Name (Japanese)
- マイケル・スペンス
- Reading
- まいける・すぺんす
- Born
- November 7, 1943 (age 82)
- Zodiac / Chinese zodiac
- Scorpio / Goat
- Origin
- Montclair, New Jersey, United States
- Occupation
- economist / university teacher / scientist / professor
2. Background
- University
- Magdalen College
Awards & achievements
- Guggenheim Fellowship
- 1981 John Bates Clark Medal
- Harvard Centennial Medal
- 2001 Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel
- 1976 Fellow of the Econometric Society
- Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
- 1966 Rhodes Scholarship
- 2002 honorary doctorate at the Laval University
4. Personality
Motto
Private
6. Links
Frequently asked questions
When was Michael Spence born?
Born November 7, 1943 (age 82).
Where is Michael Spence from?
Michael Spence is from Montclair, New Jersey, United States.
What does Michael Spence do?
Michael Spence works as economist, university teacher, scientist, professor.
Economist — see all → · University teacher — see all → · More people from United States →
7. About this entry
Tags
- Last updated
- 2026-06-02
Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public or unconfirmed items are omitted. English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.