California Dreamin'

It never rains in California, they say. Kenneth J. Arrow, Conant University Professor and a Noble Laureate in economics, would probably agree with them.

Arrow said this week that he will leave Harvard in the fall of 1979 to rejoin the Stanford University economics department. The move will take place mainly because his family likes California better than Boston, he added.

Arrow, who migrated from Stanford to Harvard in 1968, will assume the position of joint professor of economics and operations research when he returns to Palo Alto. As one of eight University Professors at Harvard, Arrow currently occupies one of the University's most prestigious posts--one that allows him to teach in any department he wishes, without being bound by departmental guidelines.

Dwight H. Perkins, chairman of the Economics Department, said this week that he could not recall any University Professor ever leaving Harvard for another college.

Arrow received the Nobel Prize in 1972 for his work in General Equilibrium Theory and the "Concept of Social Choice." His work continues to involve the application of mathematical models to economics and politics.

Arrow's appointment as University Professor also allowed him to branch out of the Economics Department and join the Committee on Applied Mathematics and the Committee on International Studies at Harvard.