His work on game theory has helped governments to tame major companies who dominated once-public monopolies like railways, highways and telecommunication.
Hailed as “one of the most influential economists of our time†by the Nobel Committee, this French economist has authored 10 books and published over 200 articles on industrial organization, banking and finance.
He has received doctorates from eight elite universities including the London Business School and Athens University of Economics and Business.
Childhood
Jean Marcel Tirole was born on August 9, 1953 in Troyes. Tirole received engineering degrees from the École Polytechnique in Paris in 1976, and from École nationale des ponts et chaussées, Paris (1978) and a “Doctorat de 3ème cycle” in decision mathematics from the Paris Dauphine University (1978).
In 1981 he received his PhD from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) for thesis titled Essays in economic theory.
Career
After receiving his PhD, he worked as a researcher at l’École nationale des ponts et chaussées until 1984.
For the next seven years, he worked as a Professor of Economics at MIT. From 1994 to 1996 he was a Professor of Economics at École Polytechnique. He was president of the Econometric Society in 1998 and of the European Economic Association in 2001.Â
Currently he is the chairman of the board of the Jean-Jacques Laffont Foundation at the Toulouse School of Economics, and scientific director of the Industrial Economics Institute (IDEI) in Toulouse.
Awards
Tirole was the recipient of the Gold Medal of the city of Toulouse in 2007; Chevalier de la Légion d’honneur (2007) and Officier dans l’Ordre National du Mérite (2010).
He has also received the inaugural BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award in the Economics, Finance and Management category in 2008, the Public Utility Research Center Distinguished Service Award (University of Florida) in 1997, and the Yrjö Jahnsson Award of the Yrjö Jahnsson Foundation and the European Economic Association in 1993.