Jerry R. Green (1946–)

Jerry Green has a deep and long-standing connection to Harvard University, and in particular with its Economics Department. This paper begins by reviewing his intellectual background, and then turns to exploring how he has influenced scholars through his wide-ranging research, his famous textbook, his teaching and his mentoring of over 100 PhD students and countless undergraduates. Jerry’s research in several areas was path-breaking; the subsequent exploration of the questions he first studied sometimes came decades later. His work, much of which is reviewed here, included seminal contributions to general equilibrium, rational expectations, decision theory, mechanism design and public choice, cheap talk, contract theory, law and economics (in particular, liability and intellectual property), mortgages, public finance and social choice.