Andrei Shleifer

Andrei Shleifer is a professor at Harvard University who is among the most cited economists in the world. His research with Lawrence Summers and Robert Vishny on "noise trader risk" — showing that arbitrageurs cannot always correct mispricings when noise traders can push prices further away from fundamentals — is foundational to behavioral finance. His paper with Vishny "The Limits of Arbitrage" explains why professional arbitrage is limited in scope. Shleifer has also contributed extensively to research on corporate governance, law and finance, and comparative economic institutions. His work on investor protection, legal origins of financial development, and media ownership has influenced comparative economics and the empirical study of how institutional quality shapes capital market development, financial deepening, and long-run economic growth across countries.