Kenneth J. Arrow

Interview

Interview, August 2008

Interview with the 1972 Economics Laureate, Kenneth J. Arrow, 27 August, 2008. The interviewer is Adam Smith, Editor-in-Chief of Nobelprize.org.

Kenneth Arrow discusses his early education and the appeal of probability theory, his efforts during World War II to improve flight routes by calculating wind patterns (20:26), how the Impossibility Theorem was born (36:15), and why his theories on health “changed the whole texture of how people thought about the problem” (43:15). He also outlines the economics of climate change (51:00) and speculates on the biggest challenges facing economics today (53:25).

To cite this section
MLA style: Kenneth J. Arrow – Interview. NobelPrize.org. Nobel Prize Outreach 2025. Fri. 5 Dec 2025. <https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/economic-sciences/1972/arrow/interview/>

Streams during Nobel Week

Watch the 2025 Nobel Prize lectures, Nobel Week Dialogue, the prize award ceremonies in Oslo and Stockholm and Nobel Peace Prize Forum here at nobelprize.org.

Explore prizes and laureates

Look for popular awards and laureates in different fields, and discover the history of the Nobel Prize.