| 1 | Name: | Dr. Menahem E. Yaari | |
| Institution: | The Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities; Hebrew University of Jerusalem | ||
| Year Elected: | 2008 | ||
| Class: | 3. Social Sciences | ||
| Subdivision: | 302. Economics | ||
| Residency: | International | ||
| Living? : | Living | ||
| Birth Date: | 1935 | ||
Menahem Yaari is a former President of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities and S.A. Schonbrunn Professor of Mathematical Economics Emeritus at Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He holds a Ph.D. from Stanford University (1962) and taught at Yale University from 1962-67. Yaari's seminal work is his 1965 paper "Uncertain Lifetime, Life Insurance, and the Theory of the Consumer," in which he developed a pioneering model of optimum saving under uncertainty about longevity and the role of competitive annuity markets. The paper became a classic and its central theorem that individuals should invest all their savings in deferred annuities has started a new branch of economic theory with numerous articles and thousands of citations. The paper, "A Model of Fixed Capital without Substitution", written jointly with two Nobel-prize winners, Solow and Tobin, and with Ch. V. Weisazacker, made a major contribution to the theory of technical progress and growth. It formulated the first model of technical progress embodied in capital, leading to a shift in theory and empirical studies towards the need for replacing functioning equipment that has become obsolete. His paper on "Changing Tastes" is recognized as a forerunner of the modern theory of behavioral economics (bounded rationality). Finally, his paper on "The Dual Theory of Choice under Risk" has developed a new widely used game-theoretic approach to decision and measures of risk aversion. Yaari's election as head of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities is a recognition of his standing and contributions to Israeli academia and to intellectual discourse in the country. He is also a member of the International Scientific Committee of the Israeli-Palestinian Science Organization, which works to bring together Israeli and Palestinian scholars, and a member of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences (1988). Menahem Yaari was elected an international member of the American Philosophical Society in 2008. | |||