Alvin E. Roth and Lloyd S. Shapley shared the 2012 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences for their work on theories of allocations and markets.
The prize was awarded “for the theory of stable allocations and the practice of market design,” the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, which selects the winner, said in a statement in Stockholm today.
Laureates have seen their economic theories win broader recognition outside academic circles and brought closer to policy making. Past winners include Milton Friedman, Amartya Sen, James Tobin, Paul Krugman, Robert Solow and Friedrich August von Hayek.
The award provides “a platform from where you can talk about your ideas,” Christopher Pissarides, who shared the 2010 prize with Peter Diamond and Dale Mortensen for research into the difficulties of matching supply and demand, said in an Oct. 12 interview. “People will listen and do something about it.”
Last year’s prize was awarded to U.S. economists Thomas J. Sargent and Christopher A. Sims for their work in exploring cause and effect in policy. In 2009, Elinor Ostrom became the first woman to win when she received the prize together with Oliver Williamson for investigating the limits of markets and how organizations work.
Annual prizes for achievements in physics, chemistry, medicine, peace and literature were established in the will of Alfred Nobel, the Swedish inventor of dynamite who died in 1896, and the first prizes were handed out in 1901. The economics award was set up by Sweden’s central bank in 1968.
The official name is The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel. The money, 8 million kronor ($1.2 million), a gold medal and a diploma, will be handed out to the laureates at a ceremony in Stockholm on Dec. 10, the anniversary of Nobel’s death.
This year’s peace prize, awarded Oct. 12, went to the European Union for its advancement of reconciliation, democracy and human rights over six decades, even as the region struggles through its third year of economic crisis.
Laureates will get 2 million kronor less in 2012 than in previous years, a move the Nobel Foundation said in June was necessary to preserve its capital. Costs related to running the Nobel Foundation’s central administration and the Nobel festivities in Stockholm are also under review.
The 2012 Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to U.S. scientists Robert J. Lefkowitz and Brian K. Kobilka for discovering proteins that receive and transmit information to cells. The physics prize went to David J. Wineland of the U.S. and Serge Haroche of France for their work in quantum optics.
This year’s Nobel in medicine went to John B. Gurdon of the U.K. and Japan’s Shinya Yamanaka for their pioneering work on stem cells, while the literature prize was awarded to Chinese writer Mo Yan for what the Nobel committee described as the “hallucinatory realism” he achieved by blending folk tales, history and contemporary life.
Today’s announcement of the economics prize marks the final award for this year.
To contact the reporter on this story: Niklas Magnusson in Hamburg at [email protected]
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Tasneem Brogger at [email protected]
Enlarge image
[h=3]Roth, Shapley Share 2012 Nobel Economics Prize, Academy Says[/h]
Henrik Montgomery/AFP/Getty Images
The 2012 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences was awarded to Alvin E. Roth and Lloyd S. Shapley “for the theory of stable allocations and the practice of market design,” the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said in a statement in Stockholm today.
The 2012 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences was awarded to Alvin E. Roth and Lloyd S. Shapley “for the theory of stable allocations and the practice of market design,” the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said in a statement in Stockholm today. Photographer: Henrik Montgomery/AFP/Getty Images
Enlarge image
[h=3]Roth, Shapley Share 2012 Nobel Economics Prize, Academy Says[/h]
The Harvard Business School Baker Library steeple rises past the school's motto and shield in Boston, Massachusetts.
The Harvard Business School Baker Library steeple rises past the school's motto and shield in Boston, Massachusetts. Photographer: Kelvin Ma/Bloomberg
The prize was awarded “for the theory of stable allocations and the practice of market design,” the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, which selects the winner, said in a statement in Stockholm today.
Laureates have seen their economic theories win broader recognition outside academic circles and brought closer to policy making. Past winners include Milton Friedman, Amartya Sen, James Tobin, Paul Krugman, Robert Solow and Friedrich August von Hayek.
The award provides “a platform from where you can talk about your ideas,” Christopher Pissarides, who shared the 2010 prize with Peter Diamond and Dale Mortensen for research into the difficulties of matching supply and demand, said in an Oct. 12 interview. “People will listen and do something about it.”
Last year’s prize was awarded to U.S. economists Thomas J. Sargent and Christopher A. Sims for their work in exploring cause and effect in policy. In 2009, Elinor Ostrom became the first woman to win when she received the prize together with Oliver Williamson for investigating the limits of markets and how organizations work.
Annual prizes for achievements in physics, chemistry, medicine, peace and literature were established in the will of Alfred Nobel, the Swedish inventor of dynamite who died in 1896, and the first prizes were handed out in 1901. The economics award was set up by Sweden’s central bank in 1968.
The official name is The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel. The money, 8 million kronor ($1.2 million), a gold medal and a diploma, will be handed out to the laureates at a ceremony in Stockholm on Dec. 10, the anniversary of Nobel’s death.
This year’s peace prize, awarded Oct. 12, went to the European Union for its advancement of reconciliation, democracy and human rights over six decades, even as the region struggles through its third year of economic crisis.
Laureates will get 2 million kronor less in 2012 than in previous years, a move the Nobel Foundation said in June was necessary to preserve its capital. Costs related to running the Nobel Foundation’s central administration and the Nobel festivities in Stockholm are also under review.
The 2012 Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to U.S. scientists Robert J. Lefkowitz and Brian K. Kobilka for discovering proteins that receive and transmit information to cells. The physics prize went to David J. Wineland of the U.S. and Serge Haroche of France for their work in quantum optics.
This year’s Nobel in medicine went to John B. Gurdon of the U.K. and Japan’s Shinya Yamanaka for their pioneering work on stem cells, while the literature prize was awarded to Chinese writer Mo Yan for what the Nobel committee described as the “hallucinatory realism” he achieved by blending folk tales, history and contemporary life.
Today’s announcement of the economics prize marks the final award for this year.
To contact the reporter on this story: Niklas Magnusson in Hamburg at [email protected]
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Tasneem Brogger at [email protected]
Enlarge image
[h=3]Roth, Shapley Share 2012 Nobel Economics Prize, Academy Says[/h]
The 2012 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences was awarded to Alvin E. Roth and Lloyd S. Shapley “for the theory of stable allocations and the practice of market design,” the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said in a statement in Stockholm today.
The 2012 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences was awarded to Alvin E. Roth and Lloyd S. Shapley “for the theory of stable allocations and the practice of market design,” the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said in a statement in Stockholm today. Photographer: Henrik Montgomery/AFP/Getty Images
Enlarge image
[h=3]Roth, Shapley Share 2012 Nobel Economics Prize, Academy Says[/h]
The Harvard Business School Baker Library steeple rises past the school's motto and shield in Boston, Massachusetts. Photographer: Kelvin Ma/Bloomberg