# Michael Spence **Domain:** Information economics **Doc Type:** Developed Person Node **Maturity:** Developed **Collection:** [[collections/Gamification|Gamification Collection]] ## Definition **A. Michael Spence** is an economist whose 1973 job-market signaling model formalized how better-informed actors may convey otherwise hidden qualities through observable, costly action. He shared the 2001 economics prize for work on markets with asymmetric information. ## Significance Spence clarifies why a hard puzzle or tournament rank can reveal something without being a transparent test. The signal works only under assumptions about cost, access, incentives, and the relationship between performance and the hidden trait. ## Sources - Nobel Prize, [Michael Spence and signaling](https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/economic-sciences/laureates/2001/popular.html) ## Routes [[wiki/Costly Signaling|Costly Signaling]] · [[wiki/Base Rate|Base Rate]] · [[wiki/Forecasting Tournament|Forecasting Tournament]]