“Economics Starts with People” — A Nobel Laureate at the ERINN 2026 Conference

George Akerlof was educated at Yale and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he received his PhD in 1966, the same year he became an assistant professor at Berkeley. He became a full professor in 1978. Professor Akerlof is a 2001 recipient of the Alfred E. Nobel Prize in Economic Science; he was honoured for his theory of asymmetric information and its effect on economic behaviour. He is also the 2006 President of the American Economic Association. He served earlier as vice president and member of the executive committee. He is also on the North American Council of the Econometric Association. 

He also remembers growing up in a country marked by racial discrimination and deep inequalities. These early experiences shaped a question that would remain at the centre of his work for decades: why do economies generate persistent unemployment and exclusion when the standard economic theory predicts that markets should clear?

George Akerlof grew up in an unusually academic family and frequently felt that he was not the most naturally gifted person in the room.  That belief forced him to work harder. It also encouraged a kind of intellectual humility that still remains. Before arriving at MIT, Akerlof spent an entire summer teaching himself advanced topology.  And the professor who taught the course would leave a lasting impression. Before solving a puzzle, identify the larger question that makes the puzzle important. This became a lifelong research philosophy.

"You have to look at the big picture: first understand the structure of the problem, then work on the details."

George Akerlof

"I was concerned about unemployment, but I was also concerned about segregation. Those problems seemed very important to me. I thought economics was one way of understanding them.”

George Akerlof

DeFiPP brings together expertise in development economics, finance, and public policy, while encouraging dialogue across disciplines and methodological approaches. Within this framework, CRED has established itself as one of Europe's leading centres in development economics.  Founded by scholars including Jean-Marie Baland and Jean-Philippe Platteau and now directed by Catherine Guirkinger, CRED has built an international reputation through research that combines theoretical rigor with extensive fieldwork. Its researchers study how institutions, social norms, collective action, market development, and political processes shape economic outcomes in developing countries. Much of the work relies on original data collected directly in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, allowing researchers to confront economic theory with realities observed on the ground. 

These questions are at the heart of CRED’s research program. The centre’s researchers study the role of institutions and social norms in shaping development trajectories, analysing how informal rules, collective beliefs, and governance structures influence economic opportunities and well-being. Their work contributes to international research networks such as “Economic Development and Institutions” (EDI), a major initiative dedicated to understanding the links between the quality of institutions and economic development.

This approach echoes one of George Akerlof's central convictions: economics cannot be understood solely through mathematical models. During his studies and later through a formative year in India where he too observed realities on the ground, he became increasingly convinced that economics is not just about facts and figures.

"I learned that understanding an economy means understanding the people who live in it. You have to understand institutions, customs, and beliefs."

George Akerlof

Development, he argues, cannot be explained by markets alone. To understand why some societies prosper while others remain trapped in poverty, we must understand how people behave within specific social and institutional environments.

George Akerlof's work on information asymmetries provides another point of connection. His landmark article The Market for Lemons demonstrated that markets can fail when buyers and sellers possess different information. 

"People make decisions without knowing what other people know."

George Akerlof

The insight transformed economics by showing that imperfect information is not an exception but a fundamental feature of many markets.

At CRED, researchers similarly examine the frictions that prevent markets from functioning efficiently. Their work explores access to credit, agricultural productivity, market integration, taxation, and development finance, seeking to understand why some individuals and communities remain excluded from economic opportunities. Recent projects have investigated issues ranging from tax compliance in Sub-Saharan Africa to the long-term effects of colonial institutions and the digital transformation of agricultural value chains in West Africa.

Another important theme linking George Akerlof's work and CRED's research concerns the role of social norms and multiple equilibria. 

He challenged the idea that economies naturally converge toward a single optimal outcome. Drawing partly on observations made in India, he argued that societies can become trapped in persistent patterns of behaviour sustained by shared beliefs and institutions. Poverty, discrimination, or unemployment may therefore persist not because individuals make irrational choices, but because entire systems of expectations reinforce existing outcomes.

"One of the things I got from India was that one should take into account what people were thinking when thinking about equilibrium. There may be more than one equilibrium."

George Akerlof

This perspective has become increasingly influential in development economics. Researchers at CRED investigate how social norms affect household decisions, gender relations, collective action, and access to economic resources. Particular attention has been devoted to understanding discrimination, bargaining power within households, and the economic constraints faced by women. Research led by Catherine Guirkinger, for example, examines the mechanisms behind gender inequalities in Sub-Saharan Africa and the factors that limit women's economic opportunities. 

Beyond its research output, CRED also serves as a vibrant international hub for scholarly exchange. The centre regularly hosts conferences, workshops, doctoral training activities, and collaborations with researchers from around the world. Through these initiatives, it contributes to the development of new generations of economists committed to addressing some of the most pressing challenges facing developing societies. 

The collaboration with Rachel Kranton represented, in many ways, the culmination of George Akerlof’s intellectual trajectory.  Identity economics brought together themes that had been present for decades. Social expectations. Collective beliefs. Norms. Institutions. The boundaries between economics, sociology, psychology, and political science are often less rigid than academic institutions suggest.  Human behaviour does not respect disciplinary boundaries.

"What people think they should do affects what they actually do."

George Akerlof

What ultimately emerges from George Akerlof's reflections is a simple but powerful idea: economics is a science of people before it is a science of markets. Markets matter, institutions matter, and policies matter—but understanding human behaviour remains essential.

This principle lies at the core of CRED's identity. Whether studying poverty, gender inequality, market development, public institutions, or collective action, the centre seeks to understand how economic outcomes are shaped by the interactions between individuals, communities, and institutions. In doing so, it continues a tradition of research that combines analytical rigor with a deep concern for real-world problems.

For George Akerlof, the purpose of economics has always been to better understand society and improve human well-being. For CRED, that ambition remains as relevant today as ever. 

• George Akerlof 
• DeFiPP Institute, Center for Research in Development Economics (CRED), University of Namur
• University of Namur Research Portal (CRED)

The IDnomics project (Identities, Norms, and Narratives) is an inter-university Concerted Research Action (ARC) funded by the Wallonia-Brussels Federation (FWB). It explores the interaction between rapidly evolving social identities and public policies, and how these factors impact societal behaviours and economic choices. 

The research is a collaborative effort between the Université de Namur (UNamur) and UCLouvain. Key features and goals of the initiative include: 

• An Interdisciplinary Approach: The project bridges economics, political science, and data science to understand how changing societal demographics and group identities influence public policy adoption.
• Academic research: It serves as a fundamental research hub, aiming to develop centres of excellence in economic and social sciences.
• Research Conferences: The project frequently sponsors academic gatherings, such as the ERINN (Economic Research on Identity, Norms, and Narratives) conference series hosted in Namur.