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James A. Mirrlees
<html> <head> <title>James A. Mirrlees</title> <meta name="googlebot" content="noodp"> <meta name="robots" content="noodp"> <link rel="apple-touch-icon-precomposed" href="/silly-nndb-icon.png" /><style type="text/css"> <!-- .fotmbar { color: #FFFFFF; text-decoration: none} .fotmbar:hover { color: #FFFFFF; text-decoration: underline} .newslink { color: #000000; text-decoration: none} .newslink:hover { color: #000000; text-decoration: none} .proflink { color: #000000; text-decoration: none} .proflink:hover { color: blue; text-decoration: underline} .b1f, .b2f, .b3f, .b4f {font-size:1px; overflow:hidden; display:block;} .b1f {height:1px; background:#e6e6e6; margin:0 5px;} .b2f {height:1px; background:#e6e6e6; margin:0 3px;} .b3f {height:1px; background:#e6e6e6; margin:0 2px;} .b4f {height:2px; background:#e6e6e6; margin:0 1px;} .contentf {background: #e6e6e6; padding: 2px; } .contentf div {margin-left: 5px;} --> </style></head> <body bgcolor=#ffffff> <center> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr><td valign=top><table width=550 cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0><tr><td bgcolor=white><table width="100%" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" background="/nndb.gif"> <tr> <td rowspan="2" align="left" valign="top"><a href="http://www.nndb.com/"><img src="/title.gif" width="260" height="50" border=0 alt="NNDB"></a></td> <td><table width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="6"> <tr align="center"> <td width="25%" nowrap><b><font size="-1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">This is a beta version of NNDB</font></b></td> </tr> </table></td> </tr> <tr> <td align="right" valign="middle"><b><font size="-1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"> <form action="http://search.nndb.com/search/nndb.cgi" method="get"> <input type="hidden" name="nndb" value="1"></input> <nobr>Search: <select name="omenu"> <option value="unspecified" selected>All Names</option> <option value="living">Living people</option> <option value="dead">Dead people</option> <option value="bands">Band Names</option> <option value="books">Book Titles</option> <option value="movies">Movie Titles</option> <option value="fulltext">Full Text</option> </select> for <input name="query" value="" size=24 maxlength=96> <input type=submit value="Search"> </font></b></nobr></form></td> </tr> </table> <!-- COPYRIGHT (C) 2008 SOYLENT COMMUNICATIONS --> <!-- ALL RIGHTS RESERVED --> <!-- NO PART OF THIS WEBSITE MAY BE REPRODUCED WITHOUT WRITTEN PERMISSION --> <!-- OF SOYLENT COMMUNICATIONS (ON THE WEB, IN PRINT, OR OTHERWISE) --> <!-- --> <!-- SOYLENT COMMUNICATIONS --> <!-- PO BOX 4436, MOUNTAIN VIEW CA 94040 USA --> </td></tr><tr><td bgcolor=red height=2></td></tr><map name=fool><area coords="102,0,240,14" href="/people/023/000144588/bibliography/" alt="bibliography"></map><tr bgcolor=F0F0F0><td bgcolor=F0F0F0 style="padding: 0px 15px 15px 15px;"><img src="/red-profile-2.gif" align="right" height=15 width=240 border=0 usemap=#fool><br clear="all"><table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 width=100%><tr><td bgcolor=F0F0F0><font size=+3 face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><b>James A. Mirrlees</b></font><p><b>AKA</b> James Alexander Mirrlees<p><b>Born:</b> <a href="/lists/704/000106386/" class=proflink>5-Jul</a>-<a href="/lists/935/000105620/" class=proflink>1936</a><br><b>Birthplace:</b> Minnigaff, Scotland<br><b>Died:</b> <a href="/lists/128/000106807/" class=proflink>29-Aug</a>-<a href="/lists/728/000403516/" class=proflink>2018</a><br><b>Location of death:</b> <a href="/geo/923/000069716/" class=proflink>Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England</a><br><b>Cause of death:</b> <a href="/lists/352/000069145/" class=proflink>Cancer - Brain</a><br><p><b>Gender:</b> Male<br><b>Race or Ethnicity:</b> White<br><b>Sexual orientation:</b> Straight<br><b>Occupation:</b> <a href="/lists/181/000068974/" class=proflink>Economist</a><p><b>Nationality:</b> Scotland<br><b>Executive summary:</b> Asymmetric information in economics<p>James A. Mirrlees endured a somewhat sickly childhood in Scotland, where his father was a bank teller. Well ahead of his high school class he taught himself calculus by reading the book <i>Teach Yourself Calculus</i>, and then he began reading his math teacher's university textbooks. After attending Cambridge and Oxford, he conducted his best-known work on "asymmetric information" wherein buyer and seller have unequal information about a transaction. For "fundamental contributions to the economic theory of incentives under asymmetric information", Mirrlees and <a href="/people/024/000144589/">William Vickrey</a> were awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics in 1996. Upon receiving the phone call from the Nobel Committee, Mirrlees said he "politely suggested that it didn't sound very likely and I would need some proof."<p><b>Father:</b> George Mirrlees (bank teller)<br><b>Mother:</b> Nan Brown<br><b>Wife:</b> Gillian Hughes (m. 1961, d. 1993 cancer, two daughters)<br><b>Daughter:</b> Catriona<br><b>Daughter:</b> Fiona<br><b>Wife:</b> Patricia Wilson (m. 2001, until his death)<br><p> High School: Douglas Ewart High School, Wigtownshire, Scotland (1953)<br> University: <a href="/edu/565/000068361/">BS Mathematics and Natural Philosophy, University of Edinburgh (1957)</a><br> University: <a href="/edu/214/000081968/">MA Mathematics, Cambridge University</a><br> University: <a href="/edu/214/000081968/">PhD Economics, Cambridge University (1963)</a><br> Teacher: <a href="/edu/487/000068283/">Center for International Studies in New Delhi, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1962-63)</a><br> Teacher: <a href="/edu/214/000081968/">Economics, Cambridge University (1963-68)</a><br> Scholar: Economics, Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (1966-68)<br> Professor: <a href="/edu/486/000068282/">Economics, Oxford University (1968-95)</a><br> Professor: <a href="/edu/487/000068283/">Economics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1968, 70-71, 76)</a><br> Professor: Economics, EC Berkeley (1986-87)<br> Professor: <a href="/edu/480/000068276/">Economics, Yale University (1989-90)</a><br> Professor: <a href="/edu/214/000081968/">Political Economy, Cambridge University (1995-)</a><br><p> <a href="/honors/183/000067979/">Nobel Prize for Economics</a> 1996 (with <a href="/people/024/000144589/">William Vickrey</a>)<br> <a href="/honors/853/000052697/">Knight of the British Empire</a> 1998<br> <a href="/org/791/000107470/">Econometric Society</a> <br> <a href="/org/692/000054530/">National Academy of Sciences</a> <br><p> <b>Author of books:</b><br> <i>Economic Policy and Nonrational Behaviour</i> (<tt>1987</tt>)<br><i>Welfare, Incentives, and Taxation</i> (<tt>2006</tt>)<br><p> <br> <p> <table> <tr> <td align=right valign=middle style="padding-right: 5px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 22px; font-style: italic; color: #ff3333;">New!</span><br> <a href="http://mapper.nndb.com/" class="fotmlink" style="font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; color: #dd0000;">NNDB MAPPER</a></td> <td valign=middle align=right style="border-left: 1px solid #bbb; padding-left: 5px;">Create a map starting with</td> <td valign=middle align=right><a href="http://mapper.nndb.com/start/?id=144588"><img src="/man.gif" border=0 style="padding: 2px;"></a></td> <td align=left valign=middle> <a href="http://mapper.nndb.com/start/?id=144588">James A. 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