Arrow, Kenneth Joseph (1921-...), an American economist, shared the 1972 Nobel Prize in economics with Sir John Hicks of the United Kingdom. They received the award for their contributions to general equilibrium theory and to welfare economics. General equilibrium theory examines the relationship between the processes of production, distribution, and consumption in the total economy. Welfare economics is a branch of economics concerned with how an economic system might achieve the greatest possible welfare for its people.