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Sir James Mirrlees
James Mirrlees was born in Minnigaff, Scotland, in 1936. He enrolled in studies of mathematics and natural philosophy at Edinburgh University and received a Ph.D. in Economics at Cambridge University. In 1996 he was awarded the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences “for his contributions to the economic theory of incentives under asymmetric information”. Professor James Mirrlees had focused on the design of income taxation but soon realized that his method could be applied to many other similar problems where decision-makers are faced with asymmetrical or incomplete economic information. Up to the present day, optimal income taxation remains his main research interest as Emeritus Professor of Political Economy at the University of Cambridge.
